On the street where I live

David & Halle, promoting the Seven Suffolk Streets project

It's always great to see a friendly face when you're out and about and as it happens, just as I was arriving home yesterday, I bumped into David and Halle, a couple of our local master composters, who are promoting the Seven Suffolk Streets project on behalf of the Suffolk Waste Partnership.

If you haven't heard of the project before, it's one of the Zero Waste places announced by Defra last year and which has received funding from BREW to help reduce the amount of waste across the county.

Each of the seven districts in Suffolk has selected one street to be the focus of the waste reduction campaign and as you can guess, my very own street is one of the lucky few, as chosen by St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

In November residents received a letter outlining the project as well as a questionnaire about their rubbish and over the last couple of weeks, door-knockers have been visiting homes to introduce the idea in more detail and to offer additional knowledge if needed.

It's all leading up to Waste Reduction Fortnight, which will take place in March, encouraging residents, businesses and schools to have a go at reducing their rubbish by 50%. And the best news is, no extra bins are needed, just extra signposting to local facilities that exist nearby.

Waste Reduction Fortnight kicks off in our street on 1st March, when our previous rubbish will be weighed for the very first time on bin day. To measure the success of the project, the bins will be weighed for the second and final time two weeks later on 15th March.

So far, it seems that residents have been very happy to take part, which is brilliant, not just regarding waste reduction, but also because there will be prizes for the streets that perform the best too! So, we could be onto a real winner for our neighbourhood!

And I am glad that people have responded positively, because I'm going to be doing a bit of door-knocking too, not on my home patch, but joining the crew in Brandon. So if you live up that way, look out because very soon I could be coming to a street near you.

All I can say is, I hope the weather warms up because yesterday I had to rescue David and Halle from a hailstorm that fell thick and fast soon after I took the photo. So keep your fingers crossed, as I don't fair well in the cold.

More information about the Seven Suffolk Streets project can be found at the Suffolk Recycling website: www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk.
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