Agenda item

Mr Glyn Holt, Wilbury and Icknield School Parents Association, thanked the Vice-Chair for the opportunity to address the Committee in support of the grant application.

The Vice-Chair thanked Mr Holt for his application.

Audio recording – 34 minutes 28 seconds

NB Councillor Daniel Allen declared an interest in that his children attended the school and confirmed that he would not take part in the debate or vote on this item.

Mr Glyn Holt, of Wilbury and Icknield School Parents Association (WISPA) and Ms Julia Sonander of Transition Town Letchworth, thanked the Vice-Chair for the opportunity to address the Committee in support of the grant application.

Mr Holt gave a presentation with slides including the following:

·                This was a Transition Town Letchworth project hosted by WISPA as the main beneficiary;

·                Terracycle was a company which recycled hard-to-recycle plastics to divert them from landfill and incineration. WISPA had joined as many of the free schemes as possible. This meant they could recycle items such as crisp packets, baby food pouches, bread bags, etc.

·                The benefits of the project were that it was a step towards a circular economy and in addition a small income was received for the waste returned;

·                The project was now in its second year and it had recycled nearly half a tonne of waste and raised nearly £1000 for WISPA;

·                The drop off point was in the centre of Letchworth at Morrisons and more sites were planned;

·                The waste was currently sorted at the school’s PTA shed which was quite cramped;

·                A search for an alternative site had been undertaken in consultation with local agencies however no site had been identified so an eco-cabin at the school was being proposed;

·                The eco-cabin would provide more space and enable more volunteers to join the team;

·                The wider benefits would be to provide an eco-hub which could be used by the schoolchildren to participate in sorting waste, managing profits, etc.;

·                Meetings, workshops and pre-loved uniform sales could also be held there and links between the school and wider community could be built.

The following Members commented:

·                Councillor Terry Hone;

·                Councillor Sue Ngwala;

·                Councillor Helen Oliver.

Comments from Members included:

·                Councillor Terry Hone, as County Council Portfolio Holder for Waste Management, was supportive of this work and happy to be contacted if needed;

·                The Government strategy was moving towards the supplier of the packaging paying for the disposal of packaging;

·                It was good to see this being looked at as the vast majority of residual waste collected at kerbside was packaging;

·                Superdrug was looking into recycling blister packs for medication;

·                The need for more space was acknowledged;

·                This project would provide children with numerous learning opportunities;

·                Transition Town Letchworth were thanked for their work in this area.

Mr Holt replied to questions from Members as follows:

·                The project was hosted to benefit the whole of Letchworth;

·                Pens which were collected were passed on to Stonehill School to be recycled;

·                Various other recyclables were passed on to a collection point in Hitchin.

Ms Julia Sonander added:

·                Highfield School was going to start collecting crisp packets and it was hoped that a network could be built with other schools once WISPA had the capacity to act as a hub.

The Vice-Chair thanked Mr Holt and Ms Sonander for their application.