This web page is for the residents and businesses who were part of the Seven Suffolk Streets project. If you are interested in the project and would like to know more about it, but don't live or work on one of the streets, follow this link for project information.
What's happening now in the project?
Waste Reduction Fortnight was for two weeks in March – we have now been able now to measure the results of the project and these results will be issued to the public shortly. What we can say at this point is that ALL the streets managed to reduce their waste, which is absolutely brilliant!
Thank you for all the efforts you made - we hope that you will continue with any changes in your behaviour and continue to reduce your waste in the future.
The dates for the fortnight were all different- follow the link to your street to find out the exact dates for your street. There were no changes to your usual services. Your waste was weighed at the beginning and the end of the fortnight to see how well you had done.
We have visited the schools and businesses on the streets. All the businesses were offered a FREE waste audit and were given a booklet with simple ways to reduce waste and energy. We hope that some of you took up this offer. If you are a business (a small or medium enterprise) on the street and would like a free energy audit, you can still contact a business advisor on 01394 444257.
We can tell from the results that lots of you got involved with the project – this really helped your streets and your communities succeed. We know from meeting some of you that neighbours are helping each other - to get to the Household Waste Recycling Centre for instance.
You are now able to click on your street below to find out what happened in your area – we will add the results to your page as soon as they go public. We would love you to email us with any comments about the project so that we can make the web pages as useful as possible to you.
Which streets took part in the project?
Abbot's Green, Bury St Edmunds
Cliff Lane, Ipswich
Crown Street, Brandon
Hillside Road East, Bungay
King Georges Avenue, Leiston
Queen Street, Stradbroke
The Street, Holbrook
So, do you have lots of questions? If so, we hope our FAQs below will help you. If we haven't covered a question you'd like to see answered, then please email us at suffolk.recycling@suffolk.gov.uk and we will respond to you and update our website so that other people involved in the project can benefit too.
FAQs
Why was my street chosen?
We chose one street in each District and Borough of Suffolk. We needed to choose streets that had at least one business or school as well as households, so that we would look at the waste produced by different sectors of the community.
Did I have to take part?
Participation was entirely voluntary, although we wanted as many people on your street as possible to join in. We know that Suffolk residents are good recyclers, we believed that they could be just as good at reducing their waste.
Were there any extra bins for the households?
No. There were no changes to your current arrangements and your bins were collected in the same way as normal.
How was the project funded?
The project was successful in a bid to BREW (Business Resource and Waste Efficiency) which awards grants for innovative projects as part of its Zero Waste Places scheme. We were awarded £10,000 to deliver the project. The Suffolk Waste Partnership also supported the project.
Did it cost me money?
No. This project did not cost participants a penny. We believe that it shouldn't cost householders to reduce their waste, and with enough of the right advice, information and support we hoped to demonstrate that through this project. If we helped you to reduce your waste, hopefully this will help you to save some money in the long run.
Did I need to start reducing my waste straight away?
No. You didn't need to do anything until Waste Reduction Fortnight itself.
Why did you have to weigh my waste?
We needed to measure the success of the project, and as the aim was to reduce waste by half, we needed to weigh bins throughout the project to determine whether we were on track. Rest assured, we will not use this information for any other purpose and all data will be handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
What was in it for me?
Lots! You were able to benefit from
- Personalised waste advice and support from Waste Reduction Advisers
- A welcome pack with a special edition Seven Suffolk Streets reusable shopping bag and handy tips to help you reduce your waste
- Visits to streets by the recycling bus
- A give and take event to promote reuse in some streets
- All participating business were offered a free energy audit to help improve the efficiency of their businesses
- Schools were offered a visit by the recycling bus and education officer.
And by continuing to reduce the waste you send to landfill, you will be helping reduce your carbon footprint and benefit Suffolk's environment. Your efforts will help Suffolk work towards the Creating the Greenest County initiative.
Why should my business take part?
The environment and green issues are on everyone's radar at the moment and we are all looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint. By taking part in this project you will benefit from a free energy audit which could lead to some cost savings for your business. Waste costs businesses money and during a recession, anything that helps businesses reduce their costs has to be good news!
Would you like more background information about the Seven Suffolk Streets project? If so, click on the link to Suffolk Recycling web pages to find out more.
The Streets:
Abbot’s Green, Bury St Edmunds
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 1st - 15th March
The exciting thing about Abbots Green is that it is the home turf of Karen Cannard, who took part voluntarily in St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s Zero Waste week in 2008. Karen has become really committed to reducing her waste, so much so that she has her own blog (The Rubbish Diet) and has also been writing a book on the subject. Karen cut down her family’s waste so much during Zero Waste week that she now throws away less than a carrier bag full a fortnight. Karen’s black bin was emptied in January for the first time since February last year! Karen was also a finalist for Recycling Champion of 2009 and was shortlisted for the Independent Media award 2009, so you see that as well as being an environmental hero/heroine – reducing your waste could make you famous!
What Karen’s example does show is that reducing your waste can be habit forming, so watch out folks!
After an initial meeting with the head at Abbot’s Green School we made plans to meet the eco team and return with the recycling bus and education officer in February. We introduced recycling bins in all the classrooms and the children conducted their own waste audit. The children and staff worked on improving their recycling rates as well as introducing composting at school. They also had a visit from 'bag lady', who came all the way from Ireland to raise awareness of waste reduction during the project and made an angel from recyled materials for the Bury Angel competition. The Flying Fortress pub received a visit from the St Edmundsbury Borough Council recycling officer and were given advice on reducing their waste as well as being offered an energy audit.
Thanks to all of you who returned the questionnaires- this helped us to find out the information you might need to know to help reduce your waste.
Halle and David called at all the houses managed to hand out welcome packs to most of the residents and would like to thank you for your warm response. Well done to everybody who reduced their waste - we will be updating you with the results soon.
Cliff Lane, Ipswich
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 2nd - 16th March
Cliff Lane is a really lively community with lots of small businesses, houses and a school. Our waste education officers have visited Cliff Lane School before and they are keen to get involved with all projects that can help the environment. We met the eco committee who were full of ideas about getting the waste reduction message across. They looked at food waste in their school and start to collect uncooked food waste for compost. We gave them some more recycling bins and compost caddies and are arranging a visit for a master composter. They carried out a waste audit so that they could monitor the situation themselves.
The recycling bus and waste education officer visited the school. Year 6 children came onboard and played a recycling game which helps identify the best way to dispose of materials and learned how to make a plastic bottle flower. Year 3 and 4 children made elephants reusing milk bottles and were encouraged to write an environmental story. The school also has a textile bank and a paper recycling bin.
Thank you to all of you that returned the questionnaires. We had a very encouraging response from Mr Debman at the butchers, who was very supportive of the project and is already selling reusable bags. He advertised the scheme and is keen to take in egg boxes from residents for his loose eggs. Well done to the vets swapped their large bin for a smaller one and a recycling bin. Ipswich Borough Council trade waste services provided a trial of recycling bags for the businesses not already recycling.
Cliff Lane already has an antique/ second hand shop – good news for all the reusers on Cliff Lane!! The shop selling vacuum cleaners also does repairs – keeping those old hoovers in use!
Max and Amber went out on the street in Cliff Lane and would like to thank the residents for opening their doors on such cold days and for their positive response to the project. Well done to all the residents who helped the street reduce its waste. We will be giving you the full results very soon.
Crown Street, Brandon
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 4th - 18th March
The recycling officer from this street visited the post office and the pub. The initial response was good and we know that the post office has taken up the offer of the energy audit and we hope that this will be useful. Both businesses received information on reducing waste.
David and Karen went to Brandon on 17th Feb and had a good day, despite the miserable weather, giving out welcome packs and talking to residents and were met with a very positive response from everyone. One of the residents promised to help a neighbour who currently cannot get to the Household Waste Recycling Centre- this was just the sort of community spirited action we had hoped for. We managed to see nearly everybody on the street in the end . Well done to all for reducing your waste - we will give you a full breakdown of results shortly.
King George’s Avenue, Leiston
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 4th –18th March
We met the deputy head and the school council at the school. They conducted a waste audit, made posters and had an assembly to tell the whole school what they were doing. They also started to collect fruit and veg peelings from packed lunches and snack time and make their own compost. One of our master composters will be going in to help them manage their compost in the future.The recycling bus and Waste Education officer visited the school in March. The school also swapped one of their large residual waste bins, currently collected fortnightly, for 2 smaller bins which accept cooked food waste . This helped them to make significant reductions in their waste. They are also collecting batteries, ink cartridges and mobile phones.
The Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) recycling officers spoke to the businesses on this street, providing them with a simple booklet on how to reduce waste and energy and offered a free energy audit from the SCDC energy advisor. The Day centre has taken on a food waste bin to cope with any cooked and uncooked food waste from the lunch club.
A new textile bank was also installed at the Sizewell Social Club.
We got a really positive response from the residents here as well (32% of residents replied)! The Waste Reduction advisors saw nearly all the inhabitants on the street. Amber and Anne were very pleased with the friendly response they received.
Well done to the occupants of King George's Avenue for doing so well reducing your waste . We will be releasing the full report shortly.
Hillside Road East, Bungay
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 3rd - 17th March
We had meetings with the head and a team of gifted and talented pupils and a leading staff member at Bungay Middle School. The recycling bus and education officer visited the school to work with the KS2 and 3 pupils and conduct a school assembly on Wednesday 24th February. The students had already done some work around waste and recycling (including some brilliant art work) and they were the key players in helping to monitor and reduce waste in school.
The school was currently recycling – but the students led a campaign to raise awareness and promote the scheme. They designed artwork to adorn the bins to really make them attractive and irresistible! They started collecting uncooked food waste in the dining room at lunchtime to launch a composting scheme with the gardening club. They launched the new schemes in assembly on the first day of waste reduction fortnight and they looked after the compost systems over lunchtime during the fortnight to see if this is a sustainable system for the school.
The businesses - The vet’s surgery have changed their current bin for a smaller one and added a recycling bin which could reduce their waste by 50% straightaway and the garage are about to trial a recycling bin as well. We worked with the other businesses to see whether there were any ways they could cut down on waste. New World music already recycles about 75% of the packaging it receives by using it again to send out CDs. Rainbow Food Store have recycling facilities for the public in the car park where you can take along glass, textiles, aluminium cans for recycling. There is now a battery collection in store.
Many thanks to residents who sent back questionnaires. The challenge in Waveney was how to reduce your waste even more as it is already possible to recycle so much here - you also have a food waste collection.
We hope that you are using your reusable bags and found the information we provided useful . Please continue to reduce your waste.
Gill and Anne were in Bungay on 15th Feb and managed to find 70% of the residents at home on their first visit. They felt that you gave them a really warm response and would like to thank you for your interest in the project. We manged to see nearly all of the residents in the end. Thank you for helping your street reduce its waste. We will be posting the full results shortly.
The Street, Holbrook
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 3rd - 17th March
At the initial meeting at the primary school, the head was very keen to get involved with this project and thought about bringing the themes of reduce, reuse and recycle into the curriculum this term. The school were already making musical instruments from recycled materials. and went on to make some figures promoting reduce reuse and recycle, which were displayed in the foyer of their local Co-op.
The recycling bus visited the school on January 20th where the children learned about different materials and the best ways to dispose of them. The school already has the village bottle and textile bank in its car park. The Waste Education Officer also visited the school. The eco team were very enthusiastic about the project and they carried out a waste audit, recycled more materials in their new recycling bins (even the staff room had one!). We also gave them kitchen caddies to collect fruit and veg from snack and break times.
Thank you to the 27% of the streets residents who returned their questionnaires – a really good response! The Waste Reduction Advisers were out and about on the street in February to answer any questions you had. A recycling officer visited the businesses on the street and issued them with a booklet including advice for waste and energy reduction and offered them a free waste audit. The businesses on this street include a pub, doctor’s surgery, newsagents, Co-op food store as well as a village hall and church. Scriv's newsagents has started recycling cardboard as a result of the project.
Max, Amber and Anne visited the street in Holbrook and were really pleased with the response from residents. Thankyou to all who helped the street reduce its waste . The full results will be out very shortly.
Queen Street, Stradbroke
Waste Reduction Fortnight: 10th - 27th March
Stradbroke primary school was so keen to get involved that we met their Eco committee on the first day of term after the Christmas holidays! We had lots of enthusiastic volunteers to monitor the school's waste They talked to the school cook to see what was happening to their food and other waste from the kitchen. The introduction of kitchen caddies in classrooms captured fruit peelings from snack time and with the help of one of our master composters they will be managing their compost bins better in the future.
The Mid Suffolk District Council trade waste officer had been visiting the businesses on Queen St and had already visited the bakery, who are now diverting 720 litres of waste from landfill every week! The post office didn’t really have enough cardboard waste to justify paying for an extra recycling collection but they are now able to give their excess to the T-shirt business down the road who need more cardboard boxes to send out their orders! This was a great example of how this project presented possibilities for working together to reduce waste – keep up the great work!
Skinner’s Pet Food Factory, also expressed an interest in improving their waste credentials and we are hoping that they will pursue this interest with a large recycling company.
Thank you to all of you who returned the questionnaires – another high performing street with a return of 23%!
Gill and Halle were in Stradbroke on Tuesday 16th Feb and managed to find quite a few residents at home who all seemed very interested in taking part. Thanks for opening your doors to them on such a cold day.
They have now finished on the street and managed to find all but 12 people at home . Well done to all who helped to reduce waste on your street . We will be posting the full results soon.
Back to the list of streets.