Zero Waste North West withdraws support from Council

Zero Waste North West (ZWNW) has withdrawn its endorsement of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Zero Waste City-region status.

This means the environmental organisation will no longer be working in partnership with Council as the local affiliate of Zero Waste Europe, the legitimising body.

The shock move came in a recent ZWNW presentation to Council’s chief executive, John Kelpie.

ZWNW said it was withdrawing its endorsement of the authenticity of Council’s commitment to Zero Waste.

However, the environmental group has not closed the door to the possibility of a real partnership between Council and itself in the future.

To that end, it is working with councillors from all political parties.

In addition, its team of volunteers is continuing the work of building the infrastructure for Zero Waste with projects including, Life Cycles, repairing rescued bikes at the Transport Hub; Repair and Café Foyle, hosting fixer sessions in different community venues each month.

ZWNW came together in 2013 to oppose the proposed construction of an incinerator in Campsie on the outskirts of the city.

Speaking to Derry News, Jim Keys, the group’s vice chairperson, said: “From 2020, following the declaration of Derry becoming a candidate Zero Waste City, ZWNW initiated regular meetings with Council officers to push forward implementation of the Zero Waste City Region journey.

“During these meetings we brought several proposals for new Circular Economy initiatives to Council, always with the offer of providing 90% of the work.

“In every case, the ZWNW activists present were disappointed by the limited support in engagement and often left disillusioned and stressed.

“Effectively, neither the adoption of the Zero Waste Circular Economy strategy nor the declaration to become a candidate Zero Waste City Region has generated an active, working partnership from Council officers,” said Jim Keys. “The stakeholder group, a key recommendation in the 2017 Strategy, has never been set up.”

He added: “Following a review of our relationship with Council, it was agreed that, as a matter of integrity, we must withdraw our endorsement of its Zero Waste City-region status.”

ZWNW describes itself as a local manifestation of the global Climate Action movement.

It is a completely voluntary group which works with the community, in schools and with businesses to model Zero Waste Circular Economy practice, using creative, innovative and fun methods to transform people’s relationship to waste.

Jim Keys said ZWNW was effectively revoking its endorsement of Council’s seriousness of becoming a Zero Waste Circular Economy region.

“We have gradually lost confidence there is any real ambition by Council officers for Derry to become a Zero Waste City.”

In 2016, ZWNW secured £20k from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), under the then Minister Mark H Durkan (SDLP), and £20k from Derry City and Strabane District Council to fund research into Derry becoming a Zero Waste Circular Economy. ZWNW made an in-kind contribution of £4k.

The research was carried out by Eunomia, an independent consultancy which “helps clients to achieve better environmental and commercial outcomes”.

Eunomia’s final report, ‘A Circular Economy Zero Waste Strategy’ for the city region was published in November 2017.

It said Derry City and Strabane District Council would save £3 million per year and generate 190 plus jobs within Council if it went zero waste and created the circumstances where there was quality recyclate within the area which local reprocessors could buy.

The report was unanimously adopted by Derry City and Strabane District councillors that December.

Jim Keys said this was an evolutionary more than revolutionary motion, the first on the island, which said the future here would be a Zero Waste Circular Economy strategy.

“It took a further two and a half torturous years after adopting the Zero Waste Circular Economy Strategy for Derry to declare its intention to become the first Zero Waste City in Ireland and the UK, when in fact it could have been achieved as early as January 2018.

“However, even with their declaration there seemed to be very little ambition from Council officers to actually do anything.

“ZWNW was proposing initiatives like getting bikes from landfill but there was no big enthusiasm for it.

“We ended up saying, ‘Let’s start it ourselves’ and now it is a big project that is going very well.

“In June, ZWNW decided to review its relationship with Council and consequently, in September, we informed chief executive, John Kelpie we were withdrawing our endorsement of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Zero Waste City-region status,” said Jim Keys.

In November ZWNW met with councillors from different parties to explain their decision.

“We continue to be open to working with Council Officers and welcome any approach offering meaningful engagement. It is in all our interests as human beings to look after this planet we share,” said Jim Keys.

He added: “In our current linear economy we are generating waste, extracting raw materials, making and using products for a while and then burning and dumping the mess back into the earth.

“Zero waste is essentially a strategy for progressively bending, year on year, the linear economy into a circular one, the way of nature.

“At our briefings with them, Councillors definitely saw the logic. We were told, ‘We are going in the wrong direction. We have to take the glass out of the blue bins’.

“Ours is one of the council’s that allows glass in the blue bin. By doing that, the weight of your recyclate jumps up massively as glass is heavy, and the statistics go up.

“However, the quality of the recyclate goes down because there is cross contamination.

“Once the glass breaks it goes into the paper and everything else,” said Jim Keys.

ZWNW believes there should be a combined kerbside sort system rather than a co-mingled waste system.

Jim Keys explained: “We need three separate streams. Paper and cardboard can go together and not contaminate each, likewise cans and plastic containers, and then glass”

In a requested comment from Derry City and Strabane District Council, regarding Zero Waste North West’s decision to withdraw its support, a spokesperson said: “Derry City and Strabane District Council was the first Council on the island of Ireland to adopt a Zero Waste Circular Economy Strategy, which it has been working to implement since 2017.

“Council has enjoyed considerable success in implementing the strategy and it has worked with a number of stakeholders, including Zero Waste North West, on projects that cover all aspects of the strategy.

“Council is aware that some stakeholders are frustrated with the timescales for the adoption of some aspects of the strategy; however the delivery of the strategy often has to be balanced with operational issues, legal constraints and the burden of costs on the ratepayer.

“Senior council officers have met Zero Waste North West regularly since the adoption of the strategy and remain committed to working with them and other partners to complete the full implementation of the strategy.”

The spokesperson added: “Officers recently met with Zero Waste Europe to discuss the implementation of the strategy with Zero Waste Europe indicating that they were content with the progress to date, acknowledging the constraints with regard to implementation and are keen to continue to collaborate on its delivery.”