Page 5 - link magazine

The Link Magazine • May 2005 5
Recycling scheme slow to get up to speed
Swindon Council's new waste collection and curbside recycling
rounds got off to a shaky start in early April as some of the informa-
tion booklets were not received by householders, or not read. Vehicle
breakdowns meant two weeks of collection chaos.
Mike Bawden, leader of Swin- recyclables were collected which
don Borough Council said, "on be- is an amazing start. If we continue
half of the council I would like to like this Swindon will have no dif-
apologise to residents who have ficulty achieving our 30 per cent
experienced problems with our recycling target by next April.
collections. West Swindon, Old Town and
"We didn't get everything right parts of Haydon Wick now have a
but this must be put into context. weekly collection of glass bottles
Over 90 per cent of homes in Swin- and jars, food and drink cans, pa-
don were covered - 75,000 infor- per and card (not cardboard), alu-
mation booklets were sent out and minium foil and textiles (bagged
35,000 boxes distributed." separately).
Council recycling officer Paper and card is collected in
Andrew Cook said people had North Swindon fortnightly.
enthusiastically taken to the recy- If problems persist call Swin-
cling scheme. "In the first two don's waste management depart-
weeks over 450 tonnes of ment on 463463.

Community waste group dumped on
An important, award winning, community reuse and recycling project
could close in August after Swindon Council slashed its grant and
upped its rent.
For 20 years Swindon Scrapstore munity and in February Scrapstore
has linked business and 350 mem- was awarded Investors In People
ber organisations such as play- status for its commitment to its
groups, nurseries, primary schools volunteers, staff and trainees.
and youth groups by collecting Funding is made up of member-
company waste and industrial ship fees, business sponsorship
offcuts and making it available for and a grant from Swindon Coun-
selection in a showroom free of cil. In the Autumn Scrapstore ap-
charge. plied for a £31,000 grant to support
a work related training programme,
but councillors decided to offer
£3,385 to meet the redundancy costs
of the project manager.
It came as a shock to the man-
agement committee said Olivia.
"Having been advised to seek sup-
port in a particular category, the
council have now told us to shut
down. To compound this in early
April they sent a letter increasing
our rent at the Pinehurst People's
Centre by £1,500 to £19,500.
"It's clear that councillors don't
realise that Scrapstore supports the
council's recycling targets by di-
Olivia McCann with volunteers Joyce
Chisolm, Leanne Drew, Caroline Harris verting 100 tonnes of material from
landfill each year, nor that 40,000
Scrapstore manager Olivia people benefit from the service we
McCann said it is amazing what provide.
children can do with scrap. "Busi- "The council's Agenda 21 de-
nesses see surplus stock or waste partment gave us a £500 grant to
for the dump. To our members it's research a book on the twenty years
a source of education and creativ- Scrapstore has served the Swin-
ity. In our store you see paper, don community. It would be ironic
cardboard tubes, plastic bits and if we had shut down when the
pieces, ribbon; you name it, so long book is published."
as its clean it can be used to stimu- A survival plan has been put
late the imagination." into action: membership fees have
Scrapstore is mainly run by 30 been increased and staff made re-
volunteers, but to keep up with dundant.
demand, staff are employed and However if the council does not
the project has extended into other recognise the value of Scrapstore
areas, such as offering work re- it could close later in the year.
lated training opportunities. Businesses interested in donat-
In 2003 the Lord Lieutenant of ing waste items or cash, or to be-
Wiltshire presented Scrapstore come a member, should call Scrap-
with the Queen's Jubilee Award store on 513982 or mail:
for recycling services in the com- swss@scrapstore .co.uk