Present: Paula, Charles, Anne, Esther, Carolyn

Apologies: Jill



1.Review of Recycling at Food Fest June 15th/16th

Everyone had read Jills notes regarding this and its limited success. A proper discussion was not possible due to Jills absence on holiday but it was felt that the Food Festival would have been charged for taking away the rubbish even if it had not been sorted, and as some of the recycling was in fact 'recycled' then Jills efforts had been of some use.

A decision as to whether to participate in next years Food Festival in a similar way would be taken at a later date. It was felt that if we agreed to participate next year we needed to commit more resources in the way of manpower to being at the Festival to oversee the what went in the bins.

2. Review of Community Market and Waste Sculpture June 8th

Everyone thanked Carolyn for her work on the Waste Sculpture which was enjoyed by all and was left in the Square for 6 days without coming to any harm. Carolyn commented that Geoff Fletcher had been a great help both in constructing the sculpture and taking it down. Anne agreed to pay Carolyn's expenses for bits and bobs bought at the Scrap Store. Photos of the sculpture would be put on the website by Charles ASAP.

The stall was felt to have been a success also as people did come over and talk to Charles, Jill and Paula who were manning it and 5 new names were collected for the newsletter. Paula felt that on another occasion it would be best to design the stall so people did not have to walk 'into' it as having to walk into an enclosed space might mean people felt trapped and threatened and avoided coming near. She also felt that it would be good to have some give away freebies or similar to attract people to the stall. It was also generally felt that we would have appreciated more advice on setting up the stall from the people who normally do it, as it was rather a guess work exercise at the beginning.

3. Biscuit Wrapper Collection

One box of wrappers had been collected so far at the Courier offices. There was no information about how other places were doing or whether they had posters up.

Paula agreed to create a new poster to be put up around the town.

Anne agreed to get Chris to photocopy it in A5 format as well as A4 in time for the Plastics collection on Sat 7th July.

Paula had put another press release into the Courier also.

4. Plastics collection on Sat 7th July

In Jill's absence Charles had been in touch with PWS to remind them.

Anne would contact Peck & Strong and ask them to leave their vans parked against the main building and not in front of the offices.

Charles would bring the usual banners, tables etc.

Anne would also email all potential helpers with a reminder and the H&S notes and start time of 9.30am.

There would be a collection in Cheriton Fitzpaine again the week beforehand and Paula would wait there on Sat morning for the PWS van and make sure everything was picked up in a satisfactory manner.

It was agreed that Anne purchase 10 High Viz jackets to wear at collections and other times so that we did not need to chase Nancy's jackets or others for each collection.

5. A New Project?

Charles went over the details of the household 'Reduce Your Waste Challenge' he had come across. It required householders in a street or area such as a small village to co-operate over an 8 week period using a stepped week by week programme to see if they can reduce their waste by as much as possible.

It was discussed and the following outcomes were decided:

• Charles would write an article for the Courier and the August Sus Cred newsletter asking if anyone in Crediton would be keen to get the project going in their street.
• Esther would approach some of her neighbours in Oakfield Road to see if they would be keen to 'have a go' with her as the street co-ordinator. If they were enthusiastic we would do a door drop in Oakfield Rd to see how many people living there might participate.

6.AOB

Charging for Plastics Bags - Esther was keen to get a petition going urging the Govt to introduce charging for bags as has been done in Ireland and Wales. Charles suggested she check whether a petition was already in existence on the internet which we could promote as by law once a petition reaches 100,000 suignatures it must be discussed in Parliament. Esther would do this before the next meeting and report back.

Website - Anne felt the WAGs pages on the website need some revamping as for example they contain very little information on the 3R's.

All agreed to look at the WAGs webpages before the next meeting and bring some ideas for changes to the next meeting.

7. Next Meeting

  Mon September 2nd at 2pm at Wetherspoons unless it is convenient for Jill to have it at her house.

  Meeting closed at 3.30pm