Environment News
SMILE Exchange Event - March 2011
SMILE Exchange Event March 2011
Date: Wednesday 2 March 2011
Time: 8.45am - 2.00pm
Location: The Montenotte Hotel, Cork
Booking is essential and lunch is included
This is a free business event that encourages the sharing and exchanging of resources in order to reduce costs and help the environment. Based on the concept that "one's waste could be another's resource", you will have opportunities to identify potential partnerships at this event and through our online exchange facility. Guest speakers include Simon Coveney T.D as well as some businesses who have already benefitted from the initiative. Log onto www.smileexchange.ie for more information.
RX3 Sponsership of New Green Award Category
RX3 are delighted to announce the sponsorship of a new awards category in the 2011 Green Awards. The Waste to Business Resource Award recognizes companies that turn waste created by one process into a resource which can be used in the creation of new business opportunity.
Deadline for receipt of entries is February 25th 2011.
For more information log on to www.greenawards.ie
Energy Management Workshop for Businesses - Thursday 03 February 2011, 9.00am to 1.00pm
Midleton Park Hotel, Midleton, Co Cork
Cork County Council in partnership with SECAD are holding an Energy Management Workshop for Businesses. Small businesses are recognising that there is a new energy future with rising energy costs, making energy efficiency a core strategic priority. Any organisation looking to its future competitiveness is looking at energy efficiency. Those already taking action are seeing the benefits - real cost savings and real environmental gains. This workshop will help identify energy use, main energy users and opportunities for energy and cost savings.
The workshop will be delivered by Tipperary Energy Agency (TEA), who are a leading provider of Energy Training in Ireland. TEA work with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Tipperary Institute in providing and delivering energy sector programmes.
For more information view the Energy Management Workshop Flyer
ATTENDANCE IS FREE. The event is funded by the Environment Protection Agency National Waste Prevention Programme.
Please register for this workshop by email: ., or phone: 021 4613432.
European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) 2010
European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is to take place from 20 to 28 November 2010.
Cork County Council intends to run an awareness campaign, based on the national stopfoodwaste.ie campaign, from Monday 22 to Saturday 27 November 2010.
A StopFoodWaste display will be located at each of the following locations: Midleton Library, Youghal Library, Cobh Library, Charleville Library, Mallow Library, Skibbereen Library and Clonakilty Library. Composting: A Household Guide and A Guide to Managing your Household Waste & Domestic Water Usage will be available at each of the libraries listed above during the European Week for Waste Reduction. Both guides are free. This event is part of the Local Authority Prevention Network Programme which is funded by the EPA National Waste Prevention Programme.
The message of the campaign is to reduce the amount of food waste you produce and compost what you do produce.
The Stop Food Waste Programme was established as part of the EPA National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP). The aim of the programme is to help householders reduce the amount of food they waste and save money. The stopfoodwaste website, www.stopfoodwaste.ie , has all the details about how to reduce the amount of food you waste. It also provides information on all aspects of food in the home including tips on better buying, savvy storage, canny cooking, random recipes and all aspects of home composting.
The EWWR is a 3 year project supported by the LIFE+ Programme of the European Commission until 2011. The EWWR is to raise awareness about waste reduction strategies, to promote sustainable waste reduction actions and to encourage changes in behaviours, in terms of consumption & production, in everyday life. To find out more about EWWR and events that are to be held throughout Europe please visit www.ewwr.eu
For more information on food waste prevention visit www.stopfoodwaste.ie
Download Composting: A Household Guide
Repak's Prevent and Save Programme: Dublin - 23 November, Cork - 25 November 2010
As part of the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), Repak’s ‘Prevent and Save’ Programme, in association with greenbusiness.ie and the SEAI, will be running a seminar on‘Total Waste Prevention: How to reduce costs and optimise resources for your business’.
This event which will take place in Dublin on Tuesday 23rd November at the Red Cow Moran Hotel, Dublin and on Thursday 25th November in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Cork Airport, Cork.
Register now at www.preventandsave.ie/EWWR2010.html if you are interested in:
Cost savings, Reducing packaging waste, Reducing food waste, Reducing water consumption, Reducing energy consumption, Sustainable business practices
The event will also feature speakers who have received assistance from Repak, greenbusiness.ie and SEAI in optimising the resources which they are using. Register now as places will be limited!
Got a Good Business Idea Working with Recyclable Materials?
If so, you might be interested in a call for proposals now being made as part of a Feasibility Study Grant Aid Funding initiative aimed at encouraging the development of business ideas working with recyclable materials. Should you or your organisation have an idea or project concept which has not yet been explored a feasibility study will assess if the idea is technically, operationally, commercially and legally viable. The call is open to any Irish company, organisation, group, research body or individual operating or residing in Ireland.
To find out more just log on to http://www.rx3.ie/Feasibility-Study-Grant-Aid
Deadline for applications is 21st January 2011.
Terms and Conditions apply.
rx3 Information Network Events 21 October 2010, The Lifetime Lab, Cork
rx3 was set up to stimulate the creation of markets for recycled materials. In 2008 about 78% of non hazardous waste collected or 1.4 million tonnes of recycable materials was exported abroad for processing. These items, rather than being exported, could be turned in to new products here in Ireland, creating employment and generating revenue for the economy.
rx3 information events are being hosted around the Country to communicate the rx3 remit and offering. The events are designed to demonstrate how rx3 is working with the recycling sector and helping the development of the waste marketplace. Each event will also demonstrate how waste can be both a positive and lucrative resource. rx3 is a Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government initiative and was set up to identify new opportunities for waste materials and to stimulate business ideas and facilitate businesses by providing advice and support for the sector. For more information on these events visit rx3 website.
Council Successful in Greening Midleton Food Festival 2010
Last Saturday on September 11th, Dr Mary Stack & Ms Claire Kelly (Local Authority Prevention Network) successfully challenged stallholders and visitors attending the Midleton Food & Drink Festival to eliminate litter and operate this fun day event in a sustainable way. For more information download 'Council Successful in Greening Midleton Food Festival 2010'.
Midleton Food Festival is Going Green
Cork County Council in partnership with SECAD is working with the Midleton Food Festival Committee to green certain aspects of the festival and to reduce the potential to impact negatively on the environment. The project is part of the Local Authority Prevention Network Programme which is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The 'Greening' of the festival will be achieved through the participation of all stakeholders, including event organisers, volunteers, stallholders and visitors. With expected attendee figures up to 25,000 we are asking all festival visitors to help in out efforts to green the festival.
The recycling of waste will be encouraged, in order to minimise the quantities of waste disposed at landfill from the festival. General waste and recycling bins (plastic, drink cans, paper and cardboard) will be in place at 4 no. waste stations along the street. Each waste station will be manned by a volunteer to assist visitors and shallholders on the proper use of each waste bin.
Public transport is another opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions. Please consider travelling to the festival by bus, train or car pool instead.
All stallholders have been invited to become a Midleton Food Festival Green Member by managing their stall on the day in an environmentally sustainable manner. Stallholders that participate will be rewarded with a Green Member Flag which will be on display on the day. So watch out for the Green Flagged Stalls that are part of the sustainbility quest! For more information download 'Greening the Food Festival'.
Cork County Council Publishes Water Conservation for Businessess Guide
Water is one of our most basic requirements and is essential to life itself. This booklet is aimed at helping businesses monitor and reduce the amount of water they use. There is considerable wastage and loss of water on some supplies to individual premises. Small holes in a half-inch pipe can waste over 10,000 gallons of water per day! There is a growing consensus that the issue of water conservation is not the exclusived preserve of Local Authorities, this is an initiative where we can all play a part.
Download the booklet here
Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009
In December 2009, the Minister for the Environment signed the Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009 (S.I. No. 508 of 2009)
From 01 July 2010, commercial food waste, from a producer as defined in the regulations, can no longer go to landfill.
The Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations, 2009, are designed to promote segregation and recovery of food waste arising in the commercial sector and reduce disposal to landfill. They will facilitate the targets set out in the EU Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) to reduce the amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) going to landfill.
For more information on the Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations, 2009, view the information leaflet here.
Food Waste Regulations Information Leaflet
A website has been developed dedicated to the Food Waste Regulations. Sector specific factsheets on the regulations, frequently asked questions and food waste prevention information can be found on this website: www.foodwaste.ie
CTC Publishes Food Waste Prevention Guide
The Less Food Waste - More Profit Guide provides step by step approach on how to eliminate, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and dispose of food waste.
This guide has been researched and compiled by Clean Technology Centre, Cork Insitute of Technology in conjunction with the Green Hospitality Awards Programme (GHA) and supported by the Environmental Protection Agency's National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP).
You can download the Less Food Waste - More Profit Guide here
STOP FOOD WASTE
Food waste costs on average each Irish household €700 a year. Some food waste gets composted but an awful lot of it ends up in our landfill bin and is buried in the ground: when it’s landfilled it releases methane gas which contributes to climate change. Food waste CAN be avoided. The first step is to learn more about what we are throwing out, then we can do something about it. Click on this link to find our more about the national campaign to STOP FOOD WASTE
