September 2017: September breakfast was all a load of rubbish!

 

Did you know that you can’t put shredded paper into your recycling bin?  Did you also know that you should attach the caps to plastic bottles, not put them in the bin separately?

Why?  Because shredded paper and very small plastic items can clog up the machinery that processes waste for recycling.

Chamber committee member Neil Lennon was a mine of information in his presentation at this month’s breakfast – well, his day job is Commercial Services Officer for Business and Trade Waste for Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils!

The two councils collect waste from an estimated 100,000 bins every week and none of it goes into landfill since the opening of the Energy-from-waste site at Gt. Blakenham.

But recovering something you have absent-mindedly lost could be a problem, he said, because even before it gets to the EfW site, the material is crushed in the collection lorries. Once the material gets to the recycling site it is burned at 900-1200 degrees Centigrade.

Among the items people have tried, and failed, to recover have been a pram (without the child), a university coursework folder and a handbag containing money and a valuable old picture.

Great care is taken to avoid emissions from the plant polluting the environment. Almost a third of the facility is taken up with the cleaning process, which involves spraying carbon and lime into the flue gases to neutralise pollutants.  Any ash residue is taken away in sealed containers for specialist treatment.

All in all the districts’ rubbish contributes to a county-wide recycling waste of 51.3%.

Who knew rubbish could be such an interesting topic?

 

Business exhibition

There’s still time for members to book stands at next year’s Mid-Suffolk Business Exhibition at the Mix at our special members’ rate of £45, which includes free breakfast, lunch, parking and seminar attendance. The special rate ends at the end of September 2017 and bookings open to non-members on October 2.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to [email protected].

 

Dates for your diary:

 

October Coffee Morning	October Breakfast
Needham Market Community Centre	The Mix, Stowmarket
Friday, 6 October	Friday, 20 October
10am-noon	Starting at 6.45am

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: [email protected]

 

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

[email protected]