No. 3 April 1998
 

Existing local landfill sites are due to be full to capacity in around five years and costs are rising sharply. In order to avoid an impending crisis, Brighton & Hove Council held a one-day conference on 31 March to discuss the waste problem and begin to draw up a strategy. The day gave us a fascinating, if somewhat worrying introduction to the problems we face in dealing with the huge - and growing - mountains of waste left behind by our consumption. It became clear that there is enormous potential for reducing, recycling, and re-using our waste and we hope that as the Project develops further it will become an integral part of a new local waste plan.
 

The Growing Team Our band of volunteers is increasing! Three now make up the core team who, although working on a voluntary basis, have committed themselves to the Project: Kevin Groves: Our volunteer co-ordinator and site supervisor. As well as making sure everything is organised and working efficiently at the Stanmer Park site, Kevin trains and manages the other volunteers. Philip Meakins: Our Education Officer and "distribution manager" who oversees the collection of timber and the deliveries of our sales. Having recently studied environmental issues at the University of Brighton, Philip has great knowledge of the problems. Barry McPhillips: The Project?s carpenter and wood expert. A tremendously experienced woodworker, Barry?s role includes everything from helping our growing band of customers work out their requirements to organising the best wood storage methods and designing/ building the Project?s own range of products. Grateful thanks to our other volunteers as well, especially Andrew Smith, Alex Nichols, Athena Logothetis, Gordon Taylor, Greg Mallett and Paul Emery. Hope to see you all on site again when you can spare the time.	A van at last We have finally got some proper wheels! We have purchased a Freightrover 2.5 litre pickup with a caged back and can now start to collect larger quantities of timber destined for landfill and serve our customers with regular deliveries. In and out so far We have now diverted around 7 tonnes of wood from landfill and have already sold around 2 tonnes for garden decking, a lean-to, some sheds, shelves, lots of raised beds for allotments and to the South Downs Trust to make a small bridge. We have even sold some for a compost toilet!  Waste facts* Each household in Brighton & Hove generates on average one tonne of ?rubbish? annually Only 6.5% of the 250,000 tonnes of waste generated locally each year is recycled 83% of all waste ends up in landfill sites In some London boroughs, it costs council taxpayers £142 per tonne to "manage their waste" - more costly than buying crude oil! (*Source: Brighton and Hove Council Waste Conference)   It is feasible to recycle or re-use the vast majority of our waste, but we must all help. For more details ring the project office.
Wood Recycling: What it's about · The Brighton and Hove Wood Recycling Project has been set up to reclaim and re-use some of the 1000?s of tonnes of timber currently land-filled in the Brighton & Hove area every year. · We aim to create a financially self - supporting voluntary body that is of genuine environmental benefit with our "profits" re-invested in other community - based environmental projects.		Can you help us? We still need: More hand and power tools (especially carpenter?s tools for our workshop) · Volunteers to help at our site at Stanmer - as much or as little time as can be spared. Fun, varied work.  · Sponsorship to help the project grow · Nominations for the Management Board - welcomed from anyone with appropriate experience