Which candidates have signed up to the Let's Talk Rubbish manifesto?

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Published: 04 May 2022 Category: Environment & Sustainability

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Just under half of candidates standing for election to councils in north London have signed up to the commitments listed in a manifesto issued by a community group that campaigns for "zero-waste" policies across the seven boroughs that are represented on the North London Waste Authority.

As reported by PGC on 19th April, the group Let's Talk Rubbish/North London Zero Waste contacted all 1407 candidates standing for election on Thursday. As of 3rd May 674 candidates (48 per cent) had signed up to the four commitments (see the box below).

All 1407 candidates are listed on the group's website, showing their party affiliation and whether they have signed up to the manifesto. A summary broken down by party shows the following:

Conservative - 13 of 367
Liberal Democrats - 286 of 324
Green Party - 145 of 215
Labour - 213 of 403

TUSC - 7 of 39
Women’s Equality Party - 0 of 7
Independent - 9 of 32
Other - 2 of 20

Let's Talk Rubbish/North London Zero Waste have also published a detailed report on the results of their survey of north London households.

Four commitments to rapidly increase recycling and reuse

1. Recycling commitment

To adopt the London Environment Strategy target of 65% recycling of household, commercial and industrial wastes by 2030 as the borough’s minimum target for 2030.

2. Reuse commitment

To commit to re-using 5% of all items brought to reuse and recycling centres, or other collection points, by 2030, in collaboration with the North London Waste Authority.

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To develop a council policy and accompanying action plan to ensure all residents, including those living in flats and above shops, have access to:

Food waste collection services by 2025 at the latest, as required under the environment act section 45A.
Sufficient bin/collection capacity for dry recycling collection services with a weekly collection frequency as required under the environment act section 45A.
Sufficient textile and clothing collection and donation points, by providing at least one collection or donation point per 3000 residents by 2024.
To evaluate the business case for processing food waste and other collected organics in an anaerobic digestion facility for bio-gas and fertiliser production.

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To develop a council policy and accompanying action plan to ensure all residents have easy options to donate their bulky wastes and miscellaneous household items, and improve the possibilities for reusing these items. This can include:

Setup a network of mini-collection centres across the local authority for bulky wastes and miscellaneous household items.
Build or enhance the network of reuse charities & businesses that can select & collect items given by the public at reuse and recycling centres or other collection points, for refurbishment, upcycling and resales.
Invest in a local ultraclean mattress machine line for north London together with FRC Group to provide as good as new mattresses for council housing services.
Evaluate the potential for on the spot testing and repair of electronic and electrical equipment at reuse and recycling centres, based on the fixing factories pilot by the West London Waste Authority, Restart project, Possible, and Ready tech go

3. Waste prevention commitment

To commit to sharply reduce waste by reducing single use and disposable items and food waste by developing and implementing a plan and campaign for this in collaboration with the North London Waste Authority.

4. Community commitment

To commit to delivering these efforts together with a borough community forum that brings new ideas that are considered, offering collaboration with the other six boroughs in north London.

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To develop a council policy and accompanying action plan around efforts reaching out to both residents and businesses to empower them to shift to reuse items and reduce unrecyclable items. This can include:

Expand the number of businesses in north London participating in the low plastic zone programme to generate more low plastic zones.
Work with food & drink businesses to shift to 100% recyclable items and start offering reusable cups and takeaway box offerings from service providers like Reuser and PIZZycle.
Develop and implement a food waste action programme with online and in person efforts, where residents can learn about and actively commit and try actions to reduce food waste, and be paired with people within their community.

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To setup a council-wide area forum composed of local residents, councillors, senior representatives from the council, representatives from the North London waste Authority, and other key local organisations, to bring in key ideas and debate key topics on composting, recycling and reuse. The structure can include:

Presentations with new ideas from local residents and other key local organisations.
Presentations from council senior representatives presenting what the key challenges are and covering assessments of new ideas
Discussions on key challenges and how to solve them.
Proposals for collaboration with the community on reaching out to residents.

Links

Let's Talk Rubbish Manifesto

List of candidates showing who has and who hasn't signed up to the commitments

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