CHEW MAGNA PARISH COUNCIL

NEWS AND MISCELLAENOUS NOTICES

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Make a difference...

 

Are you interested in making a difference in your local community?  Would you like to make sure your views count?

 

Bath & North East Somerset Council is inviting residents to talk about how they would like to be involved in local decision-making.

 

The Council’s Safer and Stronger Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel, which is made up of a cross-party group of Councillors, is reviewing Community Empowerment, ie the way in which local people have the chance to influence what goes on in their community and how decisions are made on their behalf.

 

The Panel is holding a workshop on Tuesday 1 July from 5.30pm – 7.30pm  in the Brunswick room, Bath Guildhall. This workshop is open to local residents and representatives of various local community and voluntary groups or organisations, and will involve discussion on how people currently have their say and how local groups are helping achieve this.

 

Chair of the Panel, Cllr Caroline Roberts, said: “This is a real opportunity for local residents to tell us how they want the Council to communicate with them on local issues.  We hope as many people as possible will come along. We are keen to learn about what is working well and also find out how we can improve in the way we engage with the community.”

 

The information gathered will form a key part of the Panel’s evidence before it makes recommendations to the Council’s Cabinet on how the community can be better involved in decision making to acheive local community outcomes.

 

To find out more about the review or to contact the panel with comments and questions, visit the website at www.bathnes.gov.uk/scrutiny, email scrutiny@bathnes.gov.uk, telephone Overview & Scrutiny on 01225 396 410

 

ends

 

For more Comment Contact:  Councillor Caroline Roberts, Chair of the Safer and Stronger Communities Panel, Overview and Scrutiny Panel, on 01225 336366 or email cmroberts@clara.co.uk

 

Click here for a pdf copy

 

BATH & NORTH EAST SOMERSET GARDEN WASTE AND CARDBOARD COLLECTION

 

Users of the cardboard and garden waste collection service are advised to take care to avoid contamination by plastic materials.

 

The main materials that have been contaminating the loads include:

  • Plastic film - particularly from boxes that contain both cardboard and plastic such as plastic windows on cake boxes
  • Plastic bags
  • Cardboard drinks cartons – these cannot be composted because they contain a mixture of cardboard and plastic film which does not break down in the composting process
  • Plastic described as ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ – the Council cannot compost these contrary to what the labels might say

 

Materials such as plastic contaminate the load because they do not rot down and cannot be composted.

 

Plastic that claims to be biodegradable, compostable or made from cornstarch or similar such labels are also unsuitable. This is because the outlets that B&NES uses do not have the facilities to deal with it and also it is not possible to easily distinguish compostable plastic from non compostable plastic.

 

All material collected is being composted at present because the re-processors can do a limited amount of screening, but there is a danger that in the future some of this might get rejected and sent to landfill. Bath & North East Somerset Council is keen to stop this happening and urges people to make sure that they don’t put any contaminant into the cardboard and garden waste collection.

 

B&NES has issued the following guidelines to help people:

  • When you put material out for collection, please make sure that you remove any plastic including plastic windows, handles, sticky tape or other attachments
  • Make sure that you don’t put your cardboard out in a plastic bag. Tie it with string or pack it into a cardboard box
  • Please also make sure that you don’t put any drinks cartons in. These can be taken to Pixash Lane Recycling Centre in Keynsham where they can be recycled (other recycling banks for recycling drinks cartons are due to be installed in the next few weeks at various locations across Bath & North East Somerset).
  • Make sure that you don’t put in any plastic material even it if claims to be biodegradable or compostable
  • Finally if in doubt, leave it out.