Victoria's Green Matters - 25th February 2016

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

It is always great to hear about a process that takes waste products and turns them into something useful – a great example of a circular economy. There is a company in Cambridgeshire called ‘Bio-bean’ that collects the waste coffee grounds from cafes, shops and even a producer of coffee and turns them into usable products.

When any kind of coffee is made, hot water is passed over coffee beans. This extracts the flavour and the caffeine; the remainder is waste and is usually thrown away. At Bio-bean, the waste grounds are refined by a biochemical process which extracts the oil – about 20% of the weight – and the rest is made into pellets and briquettes. The extracted oil is known as second generation or advanced biofuel because it is produced from a waste product. The oil is blended with mineral diesel and the pellets are sold in one tonne bags for use in biomass boilers which heat family homes, airports, offices or supermarkets. A single bag is enough to heat a home for a year. Some of Bio-beans customers supply the waste coffee beans and also use the pellets to heat their premises. This creates a closed loop system where there is no waste.

There are some 5 million tonnes of biofuel pellets used in biomass boilers around the UK but only 50,000 tonnes are produced here. The rest are imported from abroad, mostly from the USA. Bio-bean hopes to be producing many more tonnes by the end of the year.

The future we want - Thanet Fairtrade Sat 5th March

Waste Not Want Not - Training in Manchester

Trafford Hall Training
Waste Not Want Not - Starting Your Own Community 'Waste' Project

11-12 April 2016

Trainers - Real Junk Food Manchester

§ Turning seasonal gluts in to beautiful products like jams, chutneys, pickles, and sauerkraut is an age old skill. The modern twist is taking food that would otherwise go to waste from the food industry, and using it to start a social enterprise or community project.


The Real Junk Food Project does just this, sourcing food that would go to waste from supermarkets, wholesalers, restaurants and many other sources, cooking it up into healthy nutritious meals, and serving them to anyone and everyone on a pay-as-you-feel basis.


With over 100 neighbourhood level projects operating around the UK, the Real Junk Food Project Network demonstrates a number of ways that local people can come together to reduce food waste, support local people in accessing food, and offer training and work opportunities.


Over two days, this course takes participants through the basics of;


§ an introduction to food safety issues


§ starting a social enterprise – the process of forming a legal organisation, setting up a bank account, social media and generating interest


§ Sourcing food that would otherwise go to waste


§ Finding premises


§ Different project models – from making preserves to running a community cafe

This course is £50 for the first volunteer booking and and £20 for each subsequent volunteer booking on from the same group.

Click here for MORE INFORMATION

Click here to APPLY FOR SPACES


The cost of all courses includes en-suite accommodation, and all meals and refreshments during your stay.


Help with travel costs is available for those travelling long distances - please ask for more information. Pre-night B&B is also available for anyone who wishes to travel the night before the course.

For more information on this course, or to book spaces, contact Gary Dutton on (01244) 300246, or by replying to this email.

Deal Beach Clean 21st Feb 2016

Thank you to our 24 volunteers out on today's Deal Beach Clean. 

Over 22kgs collected in ten bags in quite windy conditions. 

Wendy will be collating the survey sheets over the next few days for the Marine Conservation Society.

The next beach clean will be at Walmer on Sunday 13th March (meeting at the Sea Cafe @ 10am) - this will be one of our pop-up cleans

Victoria's Green Matters - 18th February 2016

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

There was a huge boost to the UK’s renewable energy industry this week with the announcement that the world’s largest wind farm was to go ahead off the north Yorkshire coast. The Hornsea Project will be the largest wind turbine array in the world and will power up to 1million homes, creating 2,000 jobs during the manufacture and installation stage and 300 jobs in maintenance when it is up and running.

The Hornsea Project will be 1.2GW, consisting of the largest turbines at 190 metres tall and each generating 7MWs of energy. The intention is to have them manufactured in Hull, at a factory owned by German company, Siemens. There are also three other sites in the offing: Neart na Gaoithe and Beatrice One in Scotland and East Anglia One which will surely be encouraged by the Hornsea go ahead.

While the onshore wind energy industry was dealt a blow recently when the government announced the removal of subsidies, there is obvious delight that offshore wind is going forward even though onshore wind is so much the cheaper option. Also, when carbon emissions are taken into consideration, onshore wind energy is cheaper than fossil fuel energy generation. It is also important to remember that the fossil fuel industry is in receipt of generous subsidy from the government.

This movement forward for wind generation will go well towards our commitment under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. How necessary this is when our government has removed so many green initiatives recently.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Deal International Women's Day meeting 8th March

Deal Town Council is holding a free event for International Women’s Day 2016. It will take place on Tuesday 8th March at 2pm in the Town Hall.

There will be a talk by Local Historian Gregory Holyoake, music by pianist Neil Wright and an exhibition by Pat Smith, a member of the Deal Branch of the Kent Family History Society.

I would very much appreciate it if recipients could pass on this email to other local organisations they know who may be interested in this event.

As space is limited, please collect a free ticket from Deal Town Hall reception before the event to guarantee entry.

Please contact the Events Manager, Joanne Harper, by phone on 01304 361999 or by email at joanne.harper@deal.gov.uk if you have any queries.

Deal Beach Clean - Sunday 21st Feb 10am

The next Deal Beach Clean will be on Sunday 21st February starting at 10am meeting at Deal Pier.

This one will be one of the Marine Conservation Society ones which we do three times a year - these are part of national survey of what rubbish is being dumped on our shoreline.

We supply pickers, bags, gloves and the picks last about hour to 1 1/2 hours. Children are welcome as long as supervised

The next Beach Clean after this one will be at Walmer on Sunday 13th March 10am meet at the Sea Cafe 10am

Victoria's Green Matters - 11th February 2016

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

There has been serious concern about the future of the hen harrier in England. There have been years of persecution by game keepers who have used illegal poisoned bait to kill these magnificent birds to protect grouse shooting in the interests of landowners.

There were only six nests in England last year, mostly on the Lancashire heather moorlands, with eighteen fledglings. Better news is that there are six hundred breeding pairs in Scotland and fifty in Wales.

A new hen harrier action plan has been put in place to help build up populations of the birds which have been officially recognised as being on the brink of extinction. This plan has brought together traditionally opposing groups comprising landowners, shooters, gamekeepers and conservationists with the aim of solving the conflict over these birds of prey and has taken more than four years to agree.

There will be six methods used to help build up populations including nest protection, CCTV and satellite monitoring, reintroduction of birds to suitable lowland areas and encouraging the birds not to eat game birds by giving them other options. Also, volunteers and police wildlife crime units will be involved in monitoring the populations. These measures have already been trialled and proved to be successful in other areas.

It is difficult to think that we have allowed this beautiful bird to become almost extinct because a small minority of people think that it is right to destroy one species so that another can be reared for sport.