Sandyford Ward Committee
25th June 2003
Ward Stewardship in Sandyford
Report by:
Ward Steward
Ward Implications:
Sandyford
Information
1.0
Synopsis
1.1
This report seeks to inform the ward committee on recycling initiatives and
general environmental issues in Sandyford ward.
2.0
Recommendations
2.1
The Committee is recommended to receive the report, and:
2.2
Raise any queries regarding the recycling schemes and general environmental
issues in the ward at the next ward committee meeting.
3.0
Recycling in Sandyford
3.1
The hierarchy for the management of waste is as follows:
Reduce
Re-use
Recycle and Compost
Recover Energy
Disposal to Landfill
The most beneficial options for the environment are at the top of the hierarchy.
However, in practice, it is the option at the bottom, disposal to landfill, through
which over 95% of household waste generated in Sandyford is managed.
3.2
Individuals play an important part in finding ways to reduce the amounts of
waste they generate. Every householder in Sandyford has the option of
contacting the Mailing Preference Service to reduce the amount of unsolicited
(junk) mail they receive.
Contact details are: Mailing Preference Service
Freepost 22
London, W1E 7EZ
0845 703 4599
www.mpsonline.org.uk
Other options include planning shopping to buy only what is required and
appropriate storage of foodstuffs, in particular, to ensure that no food ‘goes off’
before consumption.
3.3
Many items from households can be passed on for re-use. Examples are
clothes, children’s toys, books, electrical and computing equipment and
furniture, to name but a few.
Sandyford householders can access the network of local charity shops to
donate many of the above items. Details are available in Yellow Pages under
Charity Shops.
In addition, the following organisations will accept donations, and in some
cases, make collections of unwanted re-useable household items, which are
either sold directly, or refurbished and then sold, to the local community at low
cost.
Community Furniture Service
6 Heaton Terrace
Byker
Newcastle
0800 917 4397
Renew North East
1 Oakwell Park
Baltic Road
Gateshead
467 7068
ITC Academy
The Park Centre
Scotswood Road
Newcastle
226 3600
(Re-use of furniture)
(Washing Machines,
(Computers & IT
Tumble Dryers, Cookers, equipment)
Fridges & Freezers)
Children’s Warehouse
Carliol Square
Newcastle
232 1606
(Computers & IT equipment)
3.4
Household waste is divided into two categories that can be recycled – ‘dry’
materials such as paper and glass bottles and ‘wet’ materials such as food
waste and garden cuttings, which are recycled by composting.
3.5
Sandyford residents have the option of dealing with their ‘wet’ waste in one of
three ways.
1.
2.
3.
Composting at home or within the local community
Deliver garden cuttings to local civic amenity site collection points
Dispose of the material in their refuse wheeled bin or via Bulky
Waste
Those interested in composting at home should contact the Home Composting
Project on 278 1969 for free training and advice on composting, and purchase
of compost bins at £6 each.
Those interested in setting up a community composting area should contact the
Home Composting Project and the local Eco-panel for advice and support.
Residents with cars can transport their garden cuttings to dedicated collection
containers at civic amenity sites. The nearest site is on Walker Road, beside
Byker Reclamation Plant. Heavy duty re-useable garden waste bags, ideal for
transporting this material, will be available to purchase for £1 from July at a
number of points in the City (See July Citylife).
Soil conditioner and mulch, produced from garden waste collected in civic
amenity sites is also available for sale to Sandyford residents. Contact PACT
(Parks and Countryside Training) on 264 6958 for details.
3.6
The two principal ways of collecting ‘dry’ materials for recycling are (i) to set out
bring sites and ask residents to deliver material to them or (ii) to collect the
material directly from households.
There are a number of small bring sites in Sandyford. Two publicly accessible
sites are located at Old Heaton Library (Paper & Glass bottles) and at
Aikenside Hill Car Park (Glass Bottles). Three high rise towers, Vale House,
Shieldfield House and Heaton Park Court have their own mini paper and bottle
banks. Two schools, Hotspur Primary and St Teresa’s Primary, also have their
own mini recycling banks.
Outside the ward, there are extensive recycling facilities at Safeway in Heaton.
Byker Civic Amenity site also collects timber, soil & rubble and glass bottles, in
addition to garden waste.
Heaton residents will be able to have recyclable materials collected from the
front of their houses as part of the Home Recycling Collection service, which
commences on 30th June. Every household that uses an individual wheeled bin
for its refuse collection will be offered the chance to participate in this new
recycling service. Each participating household will be given a 55 litre plastic
box to collect any one, or all, of the following items: Paper, glass bottles & jars,
cans, textiles and plastic bottles. Collections will be fortnightly and on a
separate day to refuse collection.
3.7
Sandyford residents continue to have their refuse collected weekly. This
material is delivered to landfills in North Tyneside and Gateshead. Residents
can also use the City Council’s Bulky Waste Collection. Ring Envirocall 274
4000 for details. Again all material collected by this service, with the exception
of fridges, is disposed of to landfill. Fridges are recycled at specialist recycling
facilities within the UK. Street sweepings, contents of litterbins and any flytipped material from Sandyford are disposed of to landfill with other household
refuse.
4
Summary of local environmental quality indicators in Sandyford
4.1
The City Council has a clear set of Environmental Service Standards which it
strives to achieve and excel. The service requests from residents should be
responded to within the following time frames:
Litter/Street Cleaning:
Flytipping:
Litter bin emptying:
Dog Fouling:
Graffiti-Sexist/Obscene:
Graffiti-Racist :
Abandoned Cars:
Gulley services:
1 Working Day
3 Working Days
1 Working Day
1 Working Day
2 Working Days
2 Working Days
1 Working Day
1 Working Day
Dead animals:
Repeat Bulkys:
Missed bins (domestic):
1 Working Day
1 Working Day
1 Working Day
Missed bins (trade):
1 Working Day
The city council offers a free bulky collection service. Demand for this service
currently exceeds 120,000 free collections per year across the city. This has
resulted in the current collection times taking from 2-3 weeks. Comparable
cities include Nottingham who provide approximately 47,000 collections per
annum, and Sheffield who charge £26 per collection.
4.2
The following table shows a number of issues which can effect the quality of
the local environment and are included in the Council’s Environmental Service
Standards:
Domestic Missed
Bins
Fly-tipping
Litter Removal
Dog Fouling
Offensive/
Racist Graffiti
Abandoned
Vehicles
Citywide % closed
within standard
% closed within
standard
Total Requests
Citywide % closed
within standard
% closed within
standard
Total Requests
Citywide % closed
within standard
% closed within
standard
Total Requests
Citywide % closed
within standard
% closed within
standard
Total Requests
Citywide % closed
within standard
% closed within
standard
Total Requests
Citywide % closed
within standard
% closed within
standard
Total Requests
Month
Nov
2002
12
83.3
91.3
40
62.5
77.8
30
50
73.5
1
0
79.5
1
100
92.8
6
100
96.9
Dec
2002
20
95
88.3
34
55.9
88.2
30
70
80.6
2
50
77.5
1
100
59.4
4
100
94.6
Jan
2003
20
85
90.5
38
89.5
93.2
21
100
82.2
7
100
80.4
1
100
76.9
5
100
100
Feb
2003
23
91.3
90.6
34
82.4
90.2
31
93.5
81.9
2
100
94.6
0
-
94.1
4
100
96.1
4.3
The information in the table above was collated from the Envirocall system.
The Ward Stewardship programme operates alongside the Envirocall system.
Residents are requested to feed any initial environmental issues to Envirocall
as they can then be logged and emailed the same day to the relevant depot to
be followed up. This way the Envirocall system is used to deal with
environmental issues on a day to day basis, but it is also used in the long term
to help plan services, for example to identify 'hotspots' and target action to deal
with these.
4.4
Street Lighting
A need has been identified to improve the City’s Street lighting. Starting this
year, there will be the most significant investment in Street lighting ever seen
within the City of Newcastle.
In Partnership with North Tyneside Council, Existing yellow lighting columns
will be replaced by new 'white' lights to modern standards. More than 50,000
lighting columns will be replaced and 17,000 lighting columns added to provide
new lighting in poorly lit areas, including 30 km of unlit back lanes.
Improving street lighting is a top priority for residents in all areas of the city. The
project is also expected to have a significant impact on road safety, tackling
crime and improving the local environment.
4.5
Neighbourhood Excellence Operatives (NEO’s)
Sandyford will also benefit from a pilot initiative called Neighbourhood
Excellence. Over the coming months, a ward based Neighbourhood Excellence
Operative (NEO) will be working in Sandyford, able to respond rapidly to local
environmental issues.
The operative will have a van and equipment to deal with litter and
environmental maintenance issues quickly, and will also be able to call into the
Depot to borrow equipment as required. The NEO will work closely with the
Ward Steward to ensure that he is able to respond to residents needs within
the ward.
Contact Officers;
Gearoid Henry, Recycling Officer
Helen Grant, Sandyford Ward Steward
0191 277 3567
0191 277 3542
gearoid.henry@newcastle.gov.uk
helen.grant@newcastle.gov.uk