Report: A picture of waste in Devon
Our last members meeting was held on zoom on Monday 17th May. Here is a report of that very interesting talk by John Vick.
’A picture of waste in Devon’
Devon County Council’s Lucy Mottram and Bobby Hughes are passionate about waste. More particularly, they are passionate about putting waste to good use or, better still, making sure waste is eliminated altogether. Following their latest monthly meeting held on Zoom, such was the enthusiasm Lucy and Bobby shared, Dawlish & District u3a members will find it impossible not to join their crusade.
We have all become rather weary of slide presentations in the presentations from Downing Street, but Lucy and Bobby’s presentation was of a different order. Amid all the statistics and graphs, there was a great deal of good news, while of course recognizing fully that there is a great deal more we can all do if we are not to allow Devon to go waste.
Most of us diligently fill our recycling boxes, doing our best to ensure that the right sort of plastic goes into the correct box, and that we try to limit what will be sent to landfill. Although we care, we are usually rather vague about how what we do fits into the whole picture. Lucy and Bobby gave us some important information to put our efforts into context. Just 12% of all waste is from households while a massive 61% comes from construction or demolition. A worryingly large 30.1% of residential bin waste is kitchen waste. Food waste is a massive contributor to greenhouse gases globally. 40.8% of residential black bin waste could have been recycled. If everyone did what they were asked to do, 70% of all residential waste could be recycled. Apart from the environmental cost of this, it costs Devon CC (ie council tax payers) £6.7million to deal with this, so it’s in our own interests.
Members learned about one of Exeter’s most imposing landmarks – the incinerator at Marsh Barton which has dominated the skyline since its construction in 2014. This major piece of engineering makes a major contribution not just to dealing with waste but also with generating electricity. As we would expect, there is a great focus on ensuring that harmful emissions are tightly controlled while it generates enough power to serve over 6000 homes.
Much of Lucy and Bobby’s mission is to encourage us all to change our behaviour. Their colleagues across the county use positive psychology strategies, including story-telling and nudge techniques to move us in the right directions. They work with schools and community action groups, encourage reuse and repair schemes, mount publicity campaigns (‘Don’t Let Devon Go To Waste’), and visit households to help us make the right decisions. In 2019-20 there were 13,571 visits to households across Devon, giving personalized advice and help to meet each person’s circumstances.
It is encouraging to know that Devon is leading the way in many respects. Other local authorities look to Devon to learn best practice, especially on education. Our record on recycling is amongst the best but we really can do more. Teignbridge has a good record on recycling but Exeter currently lags behind in some respects. Just 4% of Devon’s waste goes to landfill, a good record compared with many local authorities – but the aim is to get that down to zero. Lucy and Bobby urge us all to audit our own waste to help us reduce what we produce in our own lives. We should become ‘conscientious consumers’ so that we don’t buy products with non-recyclable packaging, reuse what we can, recycle as much as possible, and aim for zero waste. We can get involved in community projects such as Beach Cleans and Litter Picks, and support Community Action Groups.
With the leadership and encouragement of Lucy and Bobby, we can all achieve what we know needs to be done.
‘Don’t Let Devon Go To Waste’!