Forum Topic

GreenRedeem comes to Acton

The idea seems to be to make us do green things and give us rewards - Philippa should LOVE it!So I already have 150 points but there is nothig I would spend it on - and so far no local charities to donate the points to.Maybe the Trussell Trust should set up as a recipient (food banks) Any other ideas?

Sara Nathan ● 4557d35 Comments

Ha ha just got my letter about it today.I already recycle as much as I can.  It only works if the points go towards something that has some importance to you.I like the idea of the Food Banks or Acton Homeless Concern or anything similar.  And Age UK - a charity which holds a wealth of knowledge of who you can turn to when you have a problem.  Something that should be funded by Government and/or Council and isn't!In the spirit of giving something up for Lent (and inspired by others on the Ealing forum) I am using up.I've taken a look in the cupboard and am using up things that are past their Best Before Date or nearing their Best Before Date.  They may be things that we are not so keen on and that is why they have been left on the shelf as we indulged in something we preferred.  They are now off the shelf and lined up...  ready for some inspired and not so inspired meals.

Philippa Bond ● 4557d

Or something that would engage the kids?Something for a local Youth Club?

Philippa Bond ● 4556d

Have engaged with GreenRedeem on twitter, suggested the Trussell Trust, put them in touch and hope that, from Monday, the Trussell Trust - which runs the food banks - will be able to claim our points. Not quite sure what they do with them (though I do know that points means prizes!)but hey, It's progress.

Sara Nathan ● 4553d

Well done!  I've now opened the envelope and looked the website up!There are some good reuse ideas and some good rewards.  I see that we start off with 100.

Philippa Bond ● 4549d

I'm up to 160 with no effort!

Sara Nathan ● 4549d

Crikey! Is this scheme really costing the council nearly three quarters of a million quid? (see front page)Am gob-smacked and silenced - so it's done some good!

Sara Nathan ● 4549d

Sara,I am afraid the total bill for the ill-thought out Greenredeem scheme is £701K.  We reckon that of this some £300K is being spent on advertising.  See the cabinet paper here:http://ealing.cmis.uk.com/Ealing/Document.ashx?czJKcaeAi5tUFL1DTL2UE4zNRBcoShgo=4O9Yw8uiI5rKviAAEtVe4PEWvy%2bWBUXdxhayCxYaUajV%2fHao3WIKOw%3d%3d&rUzwRPf%2bZ3zd4E7Ikn8Lyw%3d%3d=pwRE6AGJFLDNlh225F5QMaQWCtPHwdhUfCZ%2fLUQzgA2uL5jNRG4jdQ%3d%3d&mCTIbCubSFfXsDGW9IXnlg%3d%3d=hFflUdN3100%3d&kCx1AnS9%2fpWZQ40DXFvdEw%3d%3d=hFflUdN3100%3d&uJovDxwdjMPoYv%2bAJvYtyA%3d%3d=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&FgPlIEJYlotS%2bYGoBi5olA%3d%3d=NHdURQburHA%3d&d9Qjj0ag1Pd993jsyOJqFvmyB7X0CSQK=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&WGewmoAfeNR9xqBux0r1Q8Za60lavYmz=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&WGewmoAfeNQ16B2MHuCpMRKZMwaG1PaO=ctNJFf55vVA%3dThe real problem across the Borough is how to motivate non-particpants to particpate in recycling.  Having the current recyclers diddling about with websites doesn't sound like the way forward to me.

Phil Taylor ● 4548d

Yes but it is part of our Grab-a-Grant politics system.  You have to Grab-a-Grant from the Government which for all those turned off by politics is not the same party as has Council majority.

Philippa Bond ● 4548d

Well how do you motivate those people who still don't separate any of their waste and fail to use the free containers which the Council provides for this purpose?Those of use who have reduced our waste and who are Council Tax payers just pay a bigger proportion of our Council Tax towards this.  What other suggestions do you have?  This is the carrot. 

Philippa Bond ● 4548d

although not very local acton we are trying to get our youth bike maintenance programme off the ground via Greenredeem donations - click on the donate button and you'll see us half way down. not only getting young people to fix up their bikes but also learn some useful mechanical skills too as well as some basic workshop processes etc.

David Eales ● 4548d

There is a list - hopefully growing of projects to donate your points to.

Philippa Bond ● 4547d

Surely this is an April Fools' joke. Look at the date on the article. The idea that £700,000 of our money has been spent on this nonsense is unbelievable.

Andy Jones ● 4546d

What is "our money"?  Is this the same money being wasted because there are still people too many people not separating ANY of their waste?  Or not separating as much as they could?Landfill charges have gone up yet again this year.  http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/landfill-tax.htmThey have been set by Government to go up each and every year to encourage Councils to promote recycling.Our Council provides containers for us to do this and information about what to put in each container.  You can order online at www.ealing.gov.uk  You can ask a neighbour or a friend to help you or you can be that neighbour or friend doing the helping.A grant was applied for and won from Central Government to start this scheme.It is a shame that Central Government does not do more nationwide on this.

Philippa Bond ● 4546d

"Surely this is an April Fools' joke..."I don't think so Andy. I don't think £700k is well spent.

Gerry Tan ● 4546d

I wonder how effectiveness and value for money will be evaluated during this contract. I would have thought it would be hard to attribute an increase in recycling to this scheme - but no doubt the council has measurable criteria for measuring VFM

Sara Nathan ● 4546d

I think that people who don't bother to recycle should be challenged but it seems that is rather difficult.  Politically rather difficult. So this is the carrot.  Maybe after the carrot the stick. We'd save a lot of Landfill Tax and the Council would have money to spend on other things that we can't do for ourselves...  like respite care.

Philippa Bond ● 4546d

'What is "our money"?'Philippa. All money that the Government spends is our money and that is why it is important it is spent wisely. I'm still sceptical that this scheme can be really as it has been described and there is not an element of parody. You are obviously are keen to demonstrate to us how important you believe recycling is to you. This scheme, if the reported details are correct, is unambiguously a diversion of public money away from its original intention of encouraging recycling although who actually benefits is hard to tell. I fail to understand how your response to what has happened could be anything other than outrage.£700,000 could have made a massive difference to the amount of recycling in the borough. 'Green Redeem' will make no difference whatsoever because there is no monitoring mechanism or no real incentive to participate. The marketing of it has also been dire - there is a large poster at the top end of Churchfield Road (a very poor site) which doesn't really explain what it is all about and gives the web site address in tiny letters.

Andy Jones ● 4546d

So why don't you complain to the Council if you don't think that their advertising campaign is not good enough? I think it has only just started.  See if you can improve it. We can't micromanage everything ourselves.  How do you propose that you motivate those who waste "our money" by not using the facilities that have been arranged for us to recycle?  We've been doing it kerbside for years and many of us were brought up to do it before any of it was brought kerbside "to make it easy".

Philippa Bond ● 4546d

Philippa, adequate oversight of a £700,000 project is not micromanagement. If the marketing budget was £300,000 as reported it would be irresponsible for Ealing Council not to have reviewed the marketing plan. Ealing's own marketing people should have spotted the flaws in the poster design.One thing I think the Conservatives have got wrong on this is the political dimension. Just as this campaign is likely to be completely ineffective in encouraging people to recycle it won't influence people to vote Labour. Most people are going to be confused by the posters and those that are aware of the details will be annoyed by the waste.

Andy Jones ● 4545d

Why bring politics into everything?  Whatever you think the outcome will be why not start with a positive attitude?You have to go with what the available options of the time are.  You have to look to where you can get funding since is Government is busy cutting back on everything. If they actually did a bit more centrally on this they might be a bit more successful. 

Philippa Bond ● 4545d

Philippa, the point I was trying to make wasn't political. There is a potential political issue here. The marketing budget for this scheme seems to be beyond all reason and you can see why the Conservatives will have been concerned given that it is being spent just before we go into 'purdah' prior to the local elections. On the face of it this does look suspicious but there doesn't seem to me there is anyway that the Green Redeem campaign would influence people to vote for the current administration. The real problem is that the campaign won't influence people to recycle more either.

Andy Jones ● 4543d

However there is a chance that it might motivate those who don't and life appears to be all about carrots and sticks.Personally I prefer the stick approach with regard to this as we should have got used to the idea of the waste hierarchy -  Reducing Reusing and Recycling - long long ago.More Central Government lead would help with this.H&F made the recycling of various materials mandatory in certain areas following consultation with their residents.  Apparently many who hadn't recycled before found it was easier than they had thought.  Whenever there is a door to door campaign the recycling rate goes up.  This is presumably because money is put into helping residents with any questions that they have about it and getting the equipment that they need to start doing it.  It would seem that for political reasons Councils won't do this - although many London boroughs do have mandatory recycling. (It is also  more unlikely to find anyone at home during the day than it used to be.)If it was my campaign I'd do it differently but it isn't. This is the product that was on the shelf for sale. We can make it our own by finding and funding our own community groups using it.

Philippa Bond ● 4543d

In Ealing the last door-to-door campaign I saw would have worked even better if the people going door to door actually knew the Borough's recycling system well - BUT because the money came from a Central Government grant - many of the callers including the one I met and had questions for (pity him :)! but he tried) didn't live in the Borough.It depends on what you can get the grants for.  Mr Pickles hasn't had applications for what he was holding the funds for... and so he appears to have accepted alternative applications.

Philippa Bond ● 4543d

Is anyone else having problems signing up? I've tried twice now and haven't received the email you're supposed to get to register.

Chris Hurley ● 4543d

The address lookup is appalling only half the houses are on it in my street, No house number can't join

Bob Crossley ● 4542d

Why on earth do they need to know your birthday?  Apparently you have to be over thirteen.

Philippa Bond ● 4541d

Apparently you can Bob.Somewhere in FAQs:"6. My address isn’t listed but I think I'm eligible to earn points for home recyclingTake a moment to make sure you have entered the correct postcode. If so, please also check that you have scrolled through the full list of addresses available. Still can’t find your address? Don’t worry, contact us and we will look into it for you."

Philippa Bond ● 4539d

PhilippaAppx half the houses in my street are missing from the address lookup. I have been on to them. It has got them stumped - the problem being passed up to be investigated.

Bob Crossley ● 4538d

They seem to be crediting points all over the place.But do points mean prizes ?

Sara Nathan ● 4538d

I remember the same problem happening when one of the contractors for waste took over.  They wouldn't hand out recycling bags and bins because the properties as far as they were concerned did not exist.  Yes I got more points given to me yesterday.  The list of community projects seems to have grown since I first looked.

Philippa Bond ● 4538d

Still not the Trussell Trust - which is the one I'm awaiting!

Sara Nathan ● 4538d

SaraWhat happened about the Trussell Trust - are they not local enough?  Could there be a more local food bank?The neighbourhood schemes seem to be doing well.  The Residents' Association who are putting money towards a new cooker seem to be doing well.  I think they'll be able to do much more than that now.

Philippa Bond ● 4421d

No-one got back about the Trussell Trust Foodbank - though I think they must have a local presence.I will try to tickle them up again.Meanwhile my enthusiasm has waned for even clicking the button - there seems little point when there is nothing I want to benefit.

Sara Nathan ● 4420d

I came across this group recently who seem to have a presence in Acton.http://bestbefore.org.uk/portal/The community projects seem to be progressing well.  I think if you were an organised group you would be able to find funds for a project.

Philippa Bond ● 4417d

After weeks of campaigning, we at last have a great local cause on the Greenredeem donations list - the first for the Acton area.SAIL - run by Maysa Marques on the South Acton estate - is a scheme linked to the international Imagination Library which gives a baby a book a month from birth to five years old. This encourages literacy and mother/child bonding and may help adult literacy too.It may even make the Greenredeem scheme marginally more compelling - though as you have to donate 200 points to benefit SAIL by £1, it's a bit dodge. Still you could do some of the GR wholly asinine quizzes and benefit a good local cause rather more.

Sara Nathan ● 4290d