Author: John Lally

Students from a specialist learning college in St Helens have opened their own café and reuse shop to help the local community reduce, reuse and recycle more.

The Not Too Shabby project is the vision of LEAP Specialist College in Newton-le-Willows, which has received £8000 from the Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund 2022/23 to reduce household waste, increase recycling and encourage resource reuse.

LEAP (Lakeside Early Adulthood Provision) specialises in providing an autism learning environment for 19-to-25-year-olds. The environmental project has seen the students set up the café and shop at the Lyme and Wood Learning Hub on Vista Road in Newton-le-Willows which, as well as being a place for local people to enjoy, is a space for students to learn and develop news skills.

The café serves hot and cold drinks and snacks, all of which are catered by the LEAP students. Amongst a host of things, the shop sells reused and repurposed clothes, books, paint, art and general bric-a-brac.

Teacher and project lead at LEAP Lauren Molyneux said: “The project is all about promoting more sustainable ways of living and for students to learn vocational skills in sectors like woodwork, horticulture, retail and hospitality.

“The shop sells pre-loved items such clothing, footwear and products handcrafted from materials, for example reclaimed timber and textiles. It is also an official stockist of ReColour paint – a chalk paint made from recycled emulsion. Our furniture rescue scheme allows customers to select a piece of furniture to be upcycled using any of the colours from the ReColour range, as well as any other tweaks they wish to be made.”

The project began in June and as well as giving LEAP students invaluable training and life skills, organisers are also hoping to prevent up to four tonnes of material from going to waste, including furniture, clothes, food and garden clippings.

Lauren Molyneux continued: “We are using the funding to deliver a series of tailored and practical face-to-face workshops and virtual tutorials. These will help establish industry specific skills that will support our young adults as they transition from further education to vocational pathways, apprenticeships, employment or higher education. We’re able to offer hands-on training in a variety of employment industries so that students within LEAP can support the project around their own interests and goals and gain valuable experience, thereby readying them for their next steps in life.”

Chairperson of Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority, Councillor Tony Concepcion, said: “This has been a great project as it has targeted a variety of materials which we know can be used again and not wasted. The Community Fund is great at reaching people we wouldn’t normally be able to, raising awareness of waste issues, giving these students the knowledge and skills to help use Earth’s resources sustainably.”

If you would like to contact the project:

• Instagram @theprelovedproject_leap 
• Email theprelovedproject@wargravehouse.com

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A Wirral project has received funding to transform overgrown church grounds into an eco-garden – with the help of enthusiastic schoolchildren and green fingered volunteers.

St Mary’s Church in Liscard has been given £8,000 from the 2022/23 Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund to transform the space which will now host fruit & vegetable growing, wildflower planting, composting, and a kids’ gardening club.

The Church, on Manor Lane, is working with Liscard Primary School, Wirral Environmental Network and Faiths4Change to deliver the project.

Project coordinator, Ruth Williams, said: “The church is in a deprived area where green spaces are a precious commodity and few people have a garden, and we felt it was a much-needed resource for the community to be able to use. Our volunteers – who range from young children to our over-55s gardening group – have helped to develop the one-acre site, two thirds of which was overgrown with brambles and nettles and totally unusable.

“Last month a fabulous group of volunteers helped us to clear the last mountain of brambles behind the church. The transformation is unbelievable!”

As well as providing the green space and activities, organisers are also aiming to recycle or reuse over three tonnes of materials, including old wooden pallets for making vegetable planters and benches, reclaimed bricks and sandstone for ground edging, and using climbing ropes for bordering the wildflower area. In all, the project is looking to involve almost 600 local people and will deliver:

• Weekly community gardening club sessions to develop the Eco Garden
• Regular training sessions to improve skills in gardening, cooking and upcycling
• Children’s gardening club sessions in school holidays and half-term
• A weekly after-school club for local families with recycled craft activities, planting and watering
• Regular environmental and planting activity sessions for the Eco Rangers and classes from Liscard Primary School
• Wellbeing and gardening sessions for local Life Skills courses
• Regular sales of pre-loved toys and clothes

Ruth Williams continued: “At St Mary’s we are using the funding to create positive experiences of community and belonging, and we want to do it sustainably and organically. We are demonstrating and encouraging the love of nature and the joy of growing real food from scratch, and not just buying it in a tin or a packet, which we’ve found to be life-changing for many people who attend.”

Councillor Tony Concepcion, Chairperson of MRWA, said: “We’re astonished at the effort and enthusiasm everyone involved has put into this project. It’s providing a community green space and outdoor activities, as well as recycling and reusing materials that might have otherwise gone to waste. They are giving up their own time to make a real difference to the community they live in. I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone involved in this brilliant project.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• Picture captions: Photographs show volunteers at St Mary’s Church garden in Liscard, Wirral, October 2022

• Project St Mary’s Eco Garden is being delivered by St Mary’s Church, Wirral Environmental Network, Faiths4Change and Liscard Primary School.

It’s so far sew good for a Liverpool laundrette looking to cut the amount of clothes and textiles going to waste across the city.

The ‘Textiles RRR’ project has been conceived by Kitty’s Laundrette, the community launderette and social space in Everton, which has received £8000 from the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority Community Fund 2022/23 to help raise awareness of and reduce clothes and textiles waste.

As part of TextilesRRR, Kitty’s Laundrette will be hosting community clothes-swapping events, textiles mending and craft workshops, and textiles repurposing training, as well as setting up an unwanted-textiles redistribution network. In all, there will be 52 activities for local people to learn new skills which will help them to rescue and repair old textiles.

Kitty’s Laundrette Project Lead Anthony Scott said: “With this project we want to address all aspects of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling textiles and feel that our space of a community launderette is a great place to be having those conversations and running activities.

“We’ve got all sorts of events to help us engage and encourage people to think about the environmental impact of clothing and textile waste. We’re hosting clothes swap events, sewing and clothes mending workshops, and introducing a permanent unwanted-clothes drop off point at the launderette. We’re holding natural dying workshops to enable participants to give their old clothes a new life. And last but not least we’re putting on craft workshops for reused and recycled materials, which are primarily for children and families.”

According to a recent analysis*, around 5% of household bins on Merseyside contained textiles such as clothes and shoes. By the end of the project in March 2023, Kitty’s Laundrette hope they will have saved around three tonnes of textiles from going to waste.

Inspired by Kitty Wilkinson, the founder of the wash house movement in the 1800’s and who opened the UK’s first launderette on Upper Frederick Street in Liverpool, today Kitty’s Laundrette serves the community by offering washing services, running events and being a welcoming space for people whilst their clothes spin in a sustainable wash.

Grace Harrison, the Development Coordinator at Kitty’s, said: “At the heart of our project is education – helping raise the skills and confidence of our local community to think about environmental concerns. We know that information about climate change and the need to change waste behaviours can be daunting for people to know where to start.

“Our approach will support people through small steps, making things easy and accessible to everyone and sharing positive stories of how this works.”

Councillor Tony Concepcion, Chairperson of Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority, said: “Every year thousands of tonnes of used clothing goes to waste when there is no need for any clothing or textiles to end up in a bin. Projects like this one address this issue, keeping materials in the circular economy, and helping inspire and influence people to make small conscious changes to reduce the impact of clothes on the environment. We wish Kitty’s Laundrette and all the partners involved the best of luck!”

If you are interested in attending one of the training sessions or swap events, please get in touch with Kitty’s Laundrette via:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittyslaunderette/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/kittyslaundry/ 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kittyslaundry/

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Notes to editors:

• *Statistic from Merseyside and Halton Waste Composition Analysis 2021/22

• Picture captions: Tie-Dye workshop with Buy by Bethan at Kitty’s Laundrette, Saturday 1st October 2022

• Project RRR is being delivered by Kitty’s Laundrette, in partnership with Stitched Up UK, Small Steps Liverpool, Metal Liverpool, Fashion Revolution, Luxe Laundry NW and Sewfab Academy

• The MRWA and Veolia Community Fund 2022/23 has seen 16 community groups from Merseyside and Halton receive a funding boost to help make the region a cleaner and greener place. The financial support will see the groups help reduce household waste, encourage recycling and resource re-use, and prevent carbon emissions. Funding total is £164,999.38

• Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority is responsible for the disposal of municipal waste on Merseyside. Established in 1986 following the abolition of Merseyside County Council, it is a statutory Authority that works with all the local authorities on Merseyside – Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. MRWA takes a lead in advocating recycling, waste minimisation and safe and effective disposal of waste for Merseyside residents.

• MRWA operates (via a contract with resource management company Veolia) 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC’s) for householders in the Merseyside area wishing to recycle and dispose of their own waste.

Merseyside’s Recycling Centres are set to switch to their shorter winter opening hours.

From Saturday 1st October the Centres will be open from 8.00am until 5.00pm* – changing from the summer hours of 8.00am to 8.00pm.

There are 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in the region. They are operated by Veolia on behalf of Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA).

Recycling Centres accept a range of household materials for recycling, from batteries, cans and cardboard, through to garden clippings, glass bottles, wood, and white goods. They also accept lesser known items such as food and drink cartons, clothes, hard plastics and electrical items. Householders can check www.recycleright.org.uk for details of what can be accepted at their local site.

The Centres provide a popular service for residents and can become extremely busy at peak times so visits should be planned carefully.

There is a system in place for those who wish to visit a HWRC in a van or with a large trailer. Bookings can be made at www.merseysidewda.gov.uk.
 

More information on what you can do with your household waste items can be found at www.recycleright.org.uk.

Councillor Tony Concepcion, Chairperson of MRWA, said: “We shorten the hours over the winter to coincide with the darker nights over the forthcoming months. Merseyside householders can use the Centres to recycle a host of items – from cans, car batteries and cardboard to garden waste, large plastics, scrap metal, textiles and timber, and more.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

The pictures attached are of a Merseyside Household Waste Recycling Centre.

From October 1st 2022 until March 31st 2023 Merseyside’s Household Waste Recycling Centres will be open from 8.00am until 5.00pm*. The Centres are located at:
 

Knowsley –

Huyton – Wilson Road – L36 6AD
Kirkby – Depot Road, Knowsley Industrial Park – L33 3AR

Liverpool –

Old Swan – Cheadle Avenue – L13 3AF

Otterspool – Jericho Lane, Aigburth – L17 5AR

Sefton –

Formby – Altcar Road, Formby – L37 8EG
Sefton Meadows – Sefton Lane, Maghull – L31 8BX
Southport – Foul Lane, Scarisbrick New Road – PR9 7RG
South Sefton – Irlam Road, Bootle – L20 4AE

St Helens –

Newton-le-Willows – Junction Lane – WA12 8DN
*Rainhill – Tasker Terrace, Rainhill – L35 4NX
Ravenhead – Burtonhead Road, St. Helens – WA9 5EA

Wirral –

Bidston – Wallasey Bridge Road, Birkenhead – CH41 1EB
Clatterbridge – Mount Road, Clatterbridge – CH63 4JZ

West Kirby – Greenbank Road – CH48 5HR

*NB:

Rainhill:

Monday to Friday: Open 8.00am-5.00pm

Saturdays: Open 9.00am-5.00pm

Sundays: Open 9.00am–3.00pm

The Waste Warriors programme is coming to Merseyside, with the aim of reducing food waste across the region. The programme will be run by the British Dietetic Association (BDA) thanks to a £20,000 investment from the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) and Veolia Community Fund 2022-2023.

With the UK on average throwing away 4.5 million tonnes of edible food and drink each year, it’s crucial that the UK gets this under control. The numbers equate to 244 kilograms per household, excluding inedible parts, or £730 per average household with children, ending up in the bin! Wasting food creates carbon, which contributes to Climate Change.

As well as the environmental benefits, reducing food waste can also have a positive impact on household budgets and will help to reduce the cost of living, by buying less and making the best use of the food available.

The Waste Warriors programme, which is run by the BDA’s Let’s Get Cooking initiative, helps households reduce their waste via tips and skills to turn the most wasted food into something tasty. This is supported by the development of a new community composting scheme for household waste and support for people wanting to grow their own fruit and veg.

Let’s Get Cooking has been providing expert advice on waste reduction through its education programmes across Merseyside for more than three years. This year, with the additional funding, it’s getting even more practical with Waste Warriors.

Suzanne Mitchell, Let’s Get Cooking Lead says, “The opportunity to support a local community in such a circular way is a really powerful idea. We hope to inspire households struggling with the current cost of living to think about new ways to save money by reducing the amount of food they throw away and growing their own produce using a community garden. The waste reduction equates to 1.82 tonnes CO2 for the local area.”

300 Let’s Get Merseyside Saving packs will be distributed to households in Merseyside and Halton, and to participants taking part in community cooking sessions in the local network of Let’s Get Cooking clubs. The packs will support them reduce the amount of wasted food, have fun cooking the recipes and enjoy eating the meals.

Carl Beer, Chief Executive, Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority says, “MRWA is delighted to support the project and the production of this activity pack. The facts show that on average we throw away over 134,000 tonnes of food every year on Merseyside – that’s almost a third of the average general household waste bin. That includes millions of loaves of bread and litres of milk. The figures may be surprising, but by using this pack and using up leftovers people can help to reduce this waste and save money.”

The local Let’s Get Cooking clubs will also receive additional funding from the project to deliver 50 local cooking and food events this Autumn, impacting approximately 3000 beneficiaries.

In partnership with Compost Works, a Liverpool-based social enterprise with the mission of diverting food from being wasted, the project will also offer a community composting facility in Liverpool, once a suitable site has been identified. This will support and inspire people in the region to collect peelings, tea bags, egg shells and uncooked produce, as well as brown waste like paper. These can be brought to a central point in the community, providing a local source of compost for other growing projects.

Preventing food waste has the same benefit to the environment as taking 1 in 5 cars off the road – so with current concerns around inflation on food prices, helping households make the most of their shopping, while also supporting community growing, is a definite win for the people of Merseyside.

The programme is being launched to local residents from October 2022. Follow @BDAGetCooking for more updates.

Find out more about Let’s Get Cooking here: https://letsgetcooking.org.uk/

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A new advertising campaign reminding people of what they can and should recycle, and why it matters, has launched across the Liverpool City Region.

Recycling Matters campaign adverts will be appearing on buses, trains, train stations and digital outdoor displays, as well as on local radio and on social media from September through to February.

The advertising is part of Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority’s Recycle Right campaign which was launched in 2018 to help increase awareness of recycling issues. This includes letting people know what can be recycled where, preventing bagged waste and unwanted materials being put into recycling bins, and highlighting what options people have when it comes to recycling and managing their household waste.

Carl Beer, Chief Executive at Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority (MRWA), said: “Recycle Right was launched to help highlight recycling options that people have and ultimately increase the region’s recycling rate. The campaign and all the messaging is a reminder to everyone about what they can recycle and where they can recycle it.

“A lot of us do the right things most of the time, but with the region’s recycling level at 35% there is more we can all do.”

Councillor Tony Concepcion, Chairperson of MRWA, said: “To put it simply, we need more people to recycle more things more often. Hopefully residents will see or hear these messages and taken them on board. We will continue to push recycling messages because managing materials and resources sustainably is key in the fight against climate change and having a local environment we can all be proud of.”

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Sixteen community groups have been awarded a share of £165,000 to help the Liverpool City Region reduce, reuse and recycle more.

The money has come from the Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority and Veolia Community Fund 22/23 which helps to support local waste prevention, re-use and recycling initiatives.

The sixteen organisations had to bid for the funding which will give them the financial resources to deliver waste-reducing behavioural change projects across the region.

Programmes include cookery lessons to reduce food waste, sewing classes and clothes repair clubs, upcycling and restoration of unwanted furniture and community composting, amongst other things.

Project applications had to tackle one or more of the four priority household waste materials which have been identified by MRWA as key, namely Food, Plastics, Textiles and Furniture. An analysis of waste in the Liverpool City Region highlighted that a greater amount of these materials could be reused or recycled. Projects can also include other household waste materials, for example paper, card and metals.

Chairperson of Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA), Councillor Tony Concepcion, said: “There are a lot of communities understandably concerned about climate change and sustainable living. Our Community Fund – which has been running since 2006 – gives groups the opportunity to look after the environment, bringing benefits to all of us. I think in this day and age people appreciate items as valuable resources rather than something which might be just thrown away.

“Projects we have previously funded continue to deliver benefits beyond the first year, through their legacy and an ongoing impact on participants’ behaviour, and in many cases through new or continuing activities.

“I wish all our projects the best and look forward to seeing the impact they have.”

One organisation to receive funding is Farm Urban, who deliver education and innovative solutions to sustainable food growing in communities. Their Future Food Heroes project received £19,580 from the Community Fund 2021/22 to work with primary schools across the city region, teaching pupils about sustainable food growing and food waste, while setting up a food ecosystem in each class. They have been successful in clinching funding for 2022/23.

Paul Myers, Managing Director of Farm Urban, said: “Our previous project was all about getting pupils to engage with the problem of food waste and providing resources to help them develop their own solutions. This next stage is the evolution of that project and will continue spreading knowledge and messages through schools on how to combat food waste – we’re looking forward to getting started!”

The successful organisations have got until March 2023 to deliver their projects.

Video – round up of MRWA & Veolia Community Fund 2021/22:

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Note to editors

• Image captions for previous Farm Urban Community Fund project, April 2022:

MRWA_FARM_2022A – (left to right) Paul Myers (Farm Urban) and Nikita Allt (Year 5 teacher, Smithdown Primary School) with pupils.

MRWA_FARM_2022B – Pupils at Smithdown Road Primary School, Liverpool

• *The successful projects:

Love Wavertree – ReLoved Textiles, Love Wavertree will feature clothes sewing training sessions and community swapping events.

Bay Tree Cookery Academy CIC – Cook And Save will try to cut food waste with 18×2-day cookery/training courses.

Porchfield Community Association – Porchfield Community Association is a clothes and food waste project which will offer 3×10-week sewing training courses and 3×5-week cookery courses.

Liverpool Community Launderette Ltd/Kittys Launderette – Textile RRR at Kitty’s is a clothes waste project that will run mending and repurposing workshops, community clothes swapping events as well as setting up an unwanted-clothes redistribution network.

St Marys Church – St Marys Eco Garden will see improvements to the church outdoor area to support a ‘grow your own’ initiative, cooking and growing training, and activity sessions for primary schoolchildren.

Liverpool World Centre – The Great Clothes Swap: Fast Fashion And Individual Behaviour Change. This project will be promoted through 350 schools, host a teacher conference for 10 schools and four pupil U.N.-style conferences for 40 schools as well as supporting school ‘Great Swap’ clothes days.

Centre 63 – Remake Yourself Hub. The Kirkby-based project will hold swap days, litter picks, community walks, youth sessions as well as food waste and reduce/reuse/repairs sessions.

Farm Urban – Future Food Heroes 2.0. The next stage of the Future Food Heroes project will hold seven community events and 72 training sessions with six primary schools, as well as six celebration events and a regional finale at Farm Urban.

Wargrave House College – Not Too Shabby @ The Lyme@ Wood Learning Hub. This multi-material project will host workshops on food, furniture, textiles, wood and metals.

Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire And Merseyside – Build Me Up, Fix Me Up. Another multi-material project which will host 20 workshops for textiles and furniture repair.

Knowsley Foodbank – Chloe Cooks. Knowsley Foodbank will hold 40 food/cookery training sessions to five groups over eight weeks.

Compost Works – Share Food And Compost The Rest will deliver 12 training sessions and 40 weekly support sessions for composting.

Mencap Liverpool And Sefton – Fix Up Look Sharp are looking to host ten litter pics, ten fix up fairs and 12 make do and mend, 12 artful artisan and 12 furniture upcycling workshops.

British Dietetic Association – Waste Warriors. The BDA is going to recruit 15 people from ten community cooking clubs to deliver 75 food waste cookery classes.

Croxteth And Gillmoss Community Federation – Croxteth Recycling. This clothes-upcycling scheme will hold 40 weekly sessions and one end-of-project community showcase.

Bootle Tool Shed – The Restoration Project. Bootle Tool Shed will be looking to rescue unwanted furniture with 40 upcycling/repair/refurbishment sessions.

• Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority is responsible for the disposal of municipal waste on Merseyside. Established in 1986 following the abolition of Merseyside County Council, it is a statutory Authority that works with all the local authorities on Merseyside – Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. MRWA takes a lead in advocating recycling, waste minimisation and safe and effective disposal of waste for Merseyside residents.
• MRWA operates (via a contract with resource management company Veolia) 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC’s) for householders in the Merseyside area wishing to recycle and dispose of their own waste.
• The MRWA and Veolia Community Fund 2022/23 has seen 16 community groups from Merseyside and Halton receive a funding boost to help make the region a cleaner and greener place. The financial support will see the groups help reduce household waste, encourage recycling and resource re-use, and prevent carbon emissions. Funding total is £164,999.38

Members of the media for more information please contact:

John Lally | Communications and Development Officer | 1 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP

Office: 0151 255 2568 | Email: john.lally@merseysidewda.gov.uk

Disclaimer: Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority