Christmas and New Year special - Newcastle City Council

Energy saving
top tips
• Cavity Wall Insulation. Up to 35%
of heat is lost through the walls of
your home. Insulating your cavity
walls can save up to £100 per year.
• Turn your thermostat down.
Reducing your room temperature by
1°C could cut your heating bills by
up to 10 percent. You could save
around £40 per year. (Remember:
cold kills. Don’t overheat your
home, but make sure it’s warm
enough too).
• Is your water too hot? Your cylinder
thermostat shouldn't need to be set
higher than 60°C/140°F.
• Close your curtains at dusk to stop
heat escaping through the
windows.
• Always turn off the lights when you
leave a room and try to use energy
saving light bulbs.
• Don't leave appliances on standby
and remember not to leave
appliances on charge unnecessarily.
Dumping mattresses, old furniture and
other waste in our back lanes and
green spaces makes our city look grim
and it’s a health hazard.
It’s also a wealth hazard with fines of
up to £5,000 for householders and up
to £50,000 for anyone who fly-tips, as
well as the seizing and crushing of
vehicles and even the possibility of a
prison sentence.
You can help us tackle this pest by
making sure you dispose of your waste
properly.
You can
• take it to one of our Household
Recycling Centres
• get a bulky collection from our
Recycling and Refuse Service
• If you're not filling up the washing
machine, tumble dryer or
dishwasher, use the half-load or
economy programme.
• Only boil as much water as you
need (but remember to cover the
elements if you're using an electric
kettle).
• A dripping hot water tap wastes
energy and in one week wastes
enough hot water to fill half a
bath, so fix leaking taps and make
sure they're fully turned off!
• Use energy saving light bulbs. Just
one can save you £100 over the
lifetime of the bulb - and they last
up to 12 times longer than ordinary
light bulbs.
Useful Contacts
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
www.warmzones.co.uk
www.energysaving.co.uk
www.newcastle.gov.uk/energycentre
Don’t make our city a tip
Fly-tipping is selfish, dangerous and expensive!
• get a waste disposal company to
take it away. (Remember: You must
check that they are registered waste
carriers. If they are not and they
dump your rubbish, we’ll prosecute
you as well as them.) You can find
companies that have a waste carrier's
licence at www.environmentagency.gov.uk/publicregisters,
or by
telephoning 08708 506 506.
If you see any fly-tipping, please
report it to us (with a description of
the people and any vehicle involved if
you see them). The sooner we know
about it, the sooner we can do
something about it.
You can report fly-tipping by calling
0300 1000 101
Our environmental crime officers are always on the look-out
for waste criminals and they’re very good at tracking them
down. Between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008
• there were 183 prosecutions for waste crimes;
• over £50,000 was paid in fines;
• two fly-tippers were sentenced to a total of 30 months in prison
Grant
netted for
new netty
Allotments in West Denton
have benefited from an
£8,500 grant from the Local
Action on Global Issues Fund
at the Community Foundation
to install a state of the art
compost toilet.
The fully accessible toilet, which is
the first of its kind for the region’s
allotments, means that a much wider
range of people in the local
community can get involved with
activities and events at the site.
Regular growers can now spend a full
day there without having to travel
home to places as far as Throckley.
The toilet, which is made out of
recycled materials, uses rain water
harvesting for hand washing, meaning
that it has zero water consumption
and, in time, will provide compost for
fruit trees and flowering plants.
Coming all the way from a compost
toilet specialist in mid Wales, the
toilet took two days to construct and
is now in a long line of compost
toilets being installed at allotment
sites up and down the country.
Micky Christian, Secretary of the West
Denton Allotments Association said:
Christmas refuse
collection dates
Normal Collection Day
“It’s great news that the Local Action
on Global Issues committee agreed to
fund our new compost toilet. There
are quite a few disabled people who
use the allotments and it will make
life a lot more comfortable for them
when they visit.
“We have been working hard to
improve our site over the last year
and have now got a waiting list of 17
people wanting an allotment. They
seem to be becoming very popular!”
Peter Storey, Committee Member for
the Local Action on Global Issues
Fund added:
“We were pleased to be able to fund
this project and having visited the
site I can see the difference that it
will make to the local community and
regular visitors to the allotments.
Local Action on Global Issues is a
fund that is constantly looking for
good environmental projects that will
benefit the people of Tyne and Wear
and Northumberland.”
The Local Action on Global Issues Fund
is currently accepting applications
from organisations for projects that
have a positive environmental impact.
For more information please contact
Suzanne Davies at the Community
Foundation on 0191 222 0945 or
email
sld@communityfoundation.org.uk
Revised Collection Day
Thursday 25 December 2008 Saturday 27 December 2008
Friday 26 December 2008 Sunday 28 December 2008
Thursday 1 January 2009 Friday 2 January 2009
Friday 2 January 2009 Saturday 3 January 2009
Normal collections resume week commencing 5 January 2009
Garden waste collection dates
Please note that there are no garden waste collections
scheduled for this time
If you have a query regarding your bin collection you can call the bin
hotline. Please note that the bin hotline opening hours are now Monday
– Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm or you can email
bin.hotline@newcastle.gov.uk and the team will answer any questions
you may have.
Pupils and staff from Broadway East Primary School pictured with David Slater the Executive Director of
Environment and Regeneration, Les Clark Head of Sustainability Unit and staff from Enviroschools and
the Energy Centre
“Everybody in the world
should care about the world”
Claudia, aged nine, Broadway East First School
Many of us adults would probably say we’re too busy
to do our bit to tackle climate change or that we’ve
got more important things to worry about.
Claudia, her schoolmates and youngsters across the
city know how short-sighted that is. They
understand that we’ve all got to start making a
difference today.
That’s why Broadway East First, Knoplaw Primary,
Monkchester Road Nursery, St Cuthbert’s RC Primary
in Walbottle and St John Vianney RC Primary – have
won an Eco-Schools green flag, the top
environmental award for schools.
Eco-Schools is an international environmental
education programme. Over 40,000 schools in 46
countries around the world take part.
In Newcastle, schools who want to be involved are
supported by our Enviro-Schools team. 118 schools
are currently enjoying support.
Pupils and staff from St Cuthbert’s RC Primary
School pictured with Nigel Hails, Director of
Neighbourhood Services
The programme covers nine key environmental topics:
• Water
• Biodiversity (the range of plants and animals)
• Energy
• Global perspectives (environmental issues across
the world)
• Healthy living
• Litter
• School grounds
• Transport
• Waste
The aim is for the pupils to do something about
these issues as well as learning about them.
They lead the eco-committee and help carry out an
audit to assess the environmental performance of
their school.
They then look at ways they can improve it – such
as introducing recycling, school grounds
development or tackling climate change.
Eco Schools gained Bronze and Silver awards leading
to the top award, the Green Flag.
To get the Green Flag, schools have to be inspected
by Encams who run the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.
Congratulations to everyone involved and let’s give
the last word to Claudia’s school-mate, Jitesh.
“I think it is really good that we have
the Green Flag because we do a lot of
recycling in school and that all helps us
to do something about global warming
before it is too late.” Jitesh age nine
Pupils and staff from Knoplaw Primary School
pictured left with Mick Murphy, Director of
Technical Services
Pupils and staff from Monkchester Road Primary
School pictured with the Lord Mayor Councillor
David Wood
Pupils and staff from St John Vianny RC Primary
School pictured with Paul Herbertson, Director of
Resources and Performance, and staff from
Enviroschools
Recycling news is
wheelie good!
Thanks to all of the residents who
have taken part so enthusiastically in
our new recycling collection.
We’re continuing to roll out the new wheelie
bins and everyone in the city with a refuse
wheelie bin will have a blue recycling
wheelie bin by the end of March next year.
If we haven’t reached you yet, remember you
can still do your bit by using your black box.
6 www.newcastle.gov.uk
Citylife: November/December 2008
Citylife: November/December 2008 Use the internet free at all Newcastle libraries 7