Newsletter issue 12
19th February 2022
A busy start to the new year, here's the roundup from the last month and a half:
Keep Swindon Tidy
Set the bar high
We started the year as we did in 2021, with a town-wide litter pick. Keep Swindon Tidy Day 2022 was a well supported event. Thank you to all who contributed to a positive day of action.
Canal path mural
A new mural on the canal path commissioned by us contributes to ongoing efforts to clean up our town. Read the blog.
Litter picks
We continue to litter pick regularly. One area of focus has been Rivermead in west Swindon. So far we've collected over 50 bags of rubbish and lots of large loose items from the site. Large amounts of asbestos were dumped in an area of woodland, which we contacted the borough council to clear. There's plenty of work still to do there. We are working to address problems and will publish a blog in due course. Many thanks to our awesome litter pickers!!
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot...
...lyrics from Joni Mitchell's song Big Yellow Taxi. The state of the Oasis site is appalling. To make matters worse, many trees and other greenery have been chopped down. Read our latest Oasis blog.
Borough council
Disinformation and conflict of interest
Swindon Borough Council's Be The Change campaign omits the role of plastic in climate change, despite being informed of its significant and growing contribution both directly and indirectly. They also refused to link to our campaign, claiming that "there is a line you cross with some of your wording that the Borough could not associate itself with". No corroboration has been given despite our requests. We make no apologies for scrutinising an administration that does not seem to want to deal with the root source of plastic pollution.
Keith Williams works for major French bank BNP Paribas. In correspondence re the borough council's Carbon Reduction Strategy, Mr Williams stated to us that "my employer prides itself on its environmental credentials and is operational carbon neutral, does not invest employee pensions in the oil industry and is aligning its portfolios towards a carbon neutral economy". BNP Paribas are members of the World Economic Forum, which consists of the oil / plastics industry and its funders. According to the Banking on Climate Chaos Report 2021, BNP Paribas increased fossil fuel funding in 2020 to $40.8 billion. When we relayed that to Mr Williams, he claimed that he "did not appreciate my employer was a member of the World Economic Forum". The question needs to be asked, does Mr Williams employment with BNP Paribas present a conflict of interest with his role for the borough council? See our council and government sections for further information.
New waste incineration contract
Swindon Borough Council signed a £58 million contract with Viridor to incinerate Swindon's waste. We were asked to respond by the Swindon Advertiser, which we did. Again key points were omitted by them in their published article. Here's our full response to the Adver:
This new contract with Viridor will mean that Swindon's waste will no longer be dried and transported to Eastern Europe to be burnt in cement kilns. It will instead be burnt more locally. This is not solving environmental and health issues, it is moving them around. Waste-to-energy is another term for waste incineration. It could be said that the term is greenwashing because it attempts to imply that such energy generation is positive. According to UKWIN, "incineration releases significantly more CO2 for every kWh exported to the electricity grid than the conventional use of fossil fuels, with the incineration of plastics being worse than coal". Waste incineration lowers recycling rates, is a barrier to zero waste, pollutes the environment with noxious substances, uses energy and resources, and contributes to climate change. We wrote to Swindon Borough Council several times asking that these points are made clear in their communications, including their Be The Change campaign. They declined our requests.
From the sourcing of raw materials to its eventual waste in the environment, plastic pollutes, and uses energy and resources. The solution to plastic pollution is not to continue facilitating plastic use through such means as plastic recycling and waste incineration, it is to reduce plastic production. We are still waiting for strong legislation to do that, as the Environment Act 2021 is inadequate.
The privatisation of waste services has caused many problems such as illegal dumping, recyclable materials not being recycled, and increased costs for the public to feed corporate profits. Profit continues to come before the well-being of life on Earth. Accordingly there is a strong case for waste services to be made public.
We've updated our waste incineration section accordingly.
PCSC Bill
A victory of sorts for those of us standing against the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill. Last minute amendments to the bill were rejected by the House of Lords. However, initial measures described as "draconian" by civil rights groups are still in place and additions can be reimplemented. It's important to see this bill in context as creeping towards fascism / totalitarianism.
This quote from a Canary article on the bill draws comparisons with the Nazis: "The police bill is the biggest threat to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in my lifetime. It has direct parallels in history. In 1936, the Nazis passed a similar decree, which said that all Romany should stop traveling so that they can be kept an eye on by the police. This is the beginning of that thin end of the wedge of persecution."
Education
Global food system
It's been a long time coming; we have finally produced an article on the global food system. It is such an important subject which challenges the notion of reforming businesses core to a system of oppression. The article concludes with the simple, powerful choice of choosing to support local, independent, and organic instead.
Sharing is caring is education
Yes, we are a campaign based in and focused on Swindon, Wiltshire. However we were contacted by Lisa Garcia from a place called Lakeville in the USA. Her daughter, Avery, has been using our links section to work towards her Eco Explorer badge for Girl Scouts. She reached out to let us know and say thanks. Indeed she went further and provided an excellent resource on glass recycling for our website. Although it is written for the USA, there's much relevant information to the UK. We have added it to our links section. Thank you so much Avery and Lisa, and best wishes for your Eco Explorer badge.
New library category
Given the huge and growing problem of electronic waste, we have added an 'electronics' category to the library.
Cut the Cutlery consultation
Refill are doing some great work co-ordinating at national and international levels. The Cut the Cutlery campaign received over 100,000 signatures to ban the most polluting single-use plastic items in line with EU legislaion. Refill set up a survey with 38 Degrees (now closed) which successfully encouraged a swift consultation launch by DEFRA. A victory for people power. None of this would be necessary if we had effective legislation. See our government section for corroboration of that.
Updated accessibility
Our campaign aims to be as inclusive as possible. After reading a thorough guide on making websites accessible to visually impaired users, we have updated all the alt-text for images on our website.
News roundup
Of particular note:
- Proprietary software significantly exacerbates (plastic) pollution and other negative environmental impacts, as well as threatening our liberty. For more info, see the work of the Free Software Foundation.
- Study for the WWF: "Impacts of plastic pollution in the oceans on marine species, biodiversity, and ecosystems" provides a much-needed current overivew of plastic pollution in the environment.
- Chemical pollution has passed safe limit for humanity, say scientists. I queston 350,000 safe chemicals in the environment being a safe limit. This shows how important the precautionary principle and strong legislation are.
- A study, "Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the global ocean" estimates that "8.4 ± 1.4 million tons of pandemic-associated plastic waste have been generated from 193 countries as of August 23, 2021". This shows the importance of dealing with the root problems of a diseased system rather than the symptoms. In attempting to limit Covid-19, we are furthering disease through plastic pollution. Equality is fundamental to our collective health and well-being.
- The Plastic Health Summit 2021. A great collection of talks on the latest reasearch into the effects of plastic pollution on human health.
The full news roundup can be found by visiting our library.