Agenda item

Mr Glyn Holt thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Panel regarding Teracycling.

The Chairman thanked Mr Holt for his presentation.

Audio recording – 57 minutes 18 seconds

Mr Glyn Holt thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Panel regarding Teracycling as follows:

·                Teracycle was a company with a mission statement to recycle the unrecyclable;

·                The scheme was delivered by free schemes that generate a small financial reward for local charities. In Letchworth it was mainly Wilbury School that benefitted;

·                They currently collected 18 waste streams that would otherwise end up in landfill including crisp packets, oral care and pens;

·                The list of items was available on the Transition Towns website;

·                This was started in Letchworth in July 2019 and had so far raised £233 by saving 116.5kg of waste from landfill;

·                Waste was collected in a bin in Bamboo Turtle, Letchworth a small group of volunteers sorted the waste;

·                There was a minimum weight for each waste stream which was increasing as more people used teracycle;

·                5 school schemes were in place with pupils sorting through the waste and flattening packaging;

·                It had encouraged children and adults to consider everything as a resource rather than waste;

·                Parents who had previously not recycled were now doing so on a regular basis and were making enquiries about how to recycle things that they were unsure of such a Christmas cards;

·                NHDC could help this initiative in the following ways:

·                Offer grant funding for scales to weigh the rubbish collected;

·                Promotion of schemes to increase the amount of waste collected;

·                Collection bins for schemes in relevant Council locations such as leisure centres and the staff canteen;

·                Encourage other schools to take place;

·                Locations for the public to sort their own waste into relevant bins;

·                Provide space for the sorting of waste;

·                Support with developing schemes such as packaging;

·                Hosting of repair workshops, for which a donation could be made to fund future endeavours;

·                Since Christmas 14 bags of teracycle waste had been generated;

·                Each Member could start saving their waste and spreading thw rod about Teracycke,

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Steve Jarvis;

·                Councillor Gerald Morris;

·                Councillor Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg;

·                Councillor Sam Collins;

·                Councillor Claire Strong;

·                Councillor Kay Tart.

In response Mr Holt advised:

·                That Teracycle were struggling to meet the demand of private collectors and were moving to centralised public collection places;

·                This did not stop people collecting, it just meant that the waste collected would need to be transported to a central place for collection by Teracycle;

·                The free schemes were self-financing;

·                Use of a shop unit would not only give more space, but would promote recycling and encourage people to get involved.

Members made the following comments:

·                NHDC should consider introduction of centralised collection points for Teracycle;

·                Area Committees could give grants to support the work being undertaken;

·                Discussions could be held with the local BID regarding use of an empty shop, Councillors Hoskins and Levett could help with this;

·                Discussions could be held with the Letchworth Garden City Heritage foundation;

·                NHDC should publish a list of external organisations that collect recyclable materials;

·                NHDC should publish a list of organisations where people could volunteer to help.

The Chairman thanked Mr Holt for his presentation.