Published date: 7 April 2016

North London Waste Authority initiatives shortlisted for Industry Awards.

Two projects organised by North London Waste Authority (NLWA) have been shortlisted for the National Recycling Awards, with one project also being shortlisted for the ‘EWWR Awards’

The two projects that have been shortlisted for the National Recycling Awards fall under the following three categories:  

Food waste initiative - public sector’ and ‘Waste prevention award - public and third sector’ for the ‘Pumpkin Rescue Festival’.

Waste prevention award - public and third sector’ for the ‘Gift of Waste’ during the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR). 

The ‘Gift of Waste’ project has also been shortlisted under the following category at the annual EWWR Awards:

‘Administrations / Public Authorities’   

The Pumpkin Rescue Festival, held in October 2015 in partnership with environmental charity Hubbub, encouraged north London residents to reduce their pumpkin waste and provided information and advice about food waste reduction and composting.  It was estimated that 18.13 tonnes of food waste was diverted as a result of residents’ changed behaviour.  The project also directly diverted an additional 3.37 tonnes because 3565 pumpkins were used during the festivals events.   

The Pumpkin Rescue Festival included a number of events including a ‘Pumpkin Party’ where over 1000 residents were offered free pumpkin soup, advice and tools; eight cookery classes teaching 116 residents new ways to cook with pumpkins; composting sessions attended by 59 residents; eleven composting drop off points where 61 pumpkins were collected from residents without access to composting or food waste recycling services and community pumpkin ‘pop-up’ events which engaged a further 195 participants. 

The ‘Gift of Waste’, was held as part of NLWA’s activity during the European Week for Waste Reduction in November 2015, in partnership with environmental charity Hubbub..  There were three elements:

1 - Series of food preservation classes

2 - Cookery book celebrating different food preservation techniques used by north London residents

3 – ‘Human Library of Food’ in which residents could interact with people from different stages of the food chain for example, a farmer or a butcher. 

The ‘Gift of Waste’ took place during EWWR directly engaging 142 residents in fun and interesting activities which simultaneously provided them with the practical skills to reduce their food waste. Results showed  that 100% of attendees felt they had learnt useful information about food waste and 78% said they were ‘very likely’ to tell someone else about what they had learned. The activities coincided with the pre-Christmas period, when people are looking for gifts to buy so an additional benefit of the project was that participants learnt how to make their own low-cost and low-waste preserved foods, which make ideal gifts. 

David Beadle, Managing Director of NLWA comments: ‘I am delighted that the Authority has been shortlisted for four nationally recognised industry awards.  The waste prevention team work tirelessly with residents across north London to promote long term behavioural change and minimise the amount of waste produced in the first instance, as well as promoting reuse. I wish the team well.’  

The National Recycling Awards 2016 recognises and highlights the excellence and innovation present throughout the recycling and resource management sector today.  The awards recognise excellence across the industry and address recycling, reuse and waste reduction.  To win, entrants must demonstrate effective strategy, tangible improvement, innovative and creative solutions and a strong business case.  The full shortlist of nominations for the National Recycling Awards will be available on 9 April 2016 and winners will be announced on Wednesday 6 July 2016. 

The ‘Gift of Waste,’ is shortlisted out of a possible 90 actions (events or activities for example) at the annual EWWR Awards ceremony.  The finalists were recently announced and the ceremony event rewards the most outstanding actions carried out during EWWR. A Jury of European professionals working in the environmental sector selects finalists and winners amongst all the many inspiring EWWR actions.  Hosted by ACR+, the leading EWWR project partner, there are six award categories and three actions have been chosen as finalists. The winners will then be revealed during the Awards ceremony on 11 May 2016 in Brussels.

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