This is a great success story - the CAG project has helped and supported the ideas of a community who wanted to make a real difference to the waste in their area. The 77% recycling rate achieved by SusWal and Brian Landowski at this year's BunkFest folk festival, not to mention the great opportunity for education and involvement, has demonstrated what a great impact people can have when working together on a problem.

Having already been involved in the BunkFest folk festival in previous years, Brian Landowski, a local resident of Wallingford, considered that the issue of waste at the festival should be more positively tackled. Brian approached the local Community Action Group Sustainable Wallingford waste team (SusWal) and got involved in the group. SusWal approached the CAG project and asked for support with the idea to provide recycling at the BunkFest this year.

The CAG project worked with Brian and the SusWal volunteers to secure funding for bins from Oxfordshire County Council and worked with Brian to get signs and information boards made up.

Three recycling stations were set up around the festival site with green wheelie bins for recyclable waste - separate bins for: plastic, cans, paper and cardboard, - bottle banks were provided for used glass and black wheelie bins for landfill waste.

Brian and the SusWal volunteers worked out a rota for the weekend to empty the three recycling stations and collect waste from around the festival. Bins were emptied every hour or two, clear plastic bags were used for the recyclable waste so that volunteers could tell if there were things in the bins that shouldn't be there. They also worked with local scout groups to collect litter and bring it to the recycling stations.

Brian Landowski, Bunkfest recycling scheme coordinator said: "I really think the message got across. The advertising campaign and the whole way we approached it worked. I think a lot of people took it on board; I had some amazing reactions from people.

"Kids were collecting cans to crush and really wanting to take part. I think it's just amazing.

"I'm really impressed by the amount of waste collected for recycling and the number of people who used the bins.

"It just goes to show people can recycle well if they're given the right facilities.

Community Action Group coordinator Hannah Moser said: "I was surprised how well people had done at separating their rubbish. Even at 9.30pm on Saturday night there were still cans in the can bin, plastic cups in the plastic bin and paper in the paper bin.

"I am really proud of the people involved in this scheme and delighted by the level of commitment from the general public and their interest in the recycling scheme.

"It was so great to see people thinking about what they would do with their rubbish and to me this event has shown just how well people respond to recycling when they are given the right facilities, opportunity and good information!"

Following the success of this scheme, Oxfordshire County Council and the Community Action Group project are looking to find other festivals and volunteers who would like to use the bins and the signs used by SusWal for festivals around the County.

If you would like to use the bins for your festival, please get in touch with the CAG project email

On a lovely sunny Monday morning in July, CAG members went off to see what happens to their recycling waste once it leaves their doorstep.

We began with SITA Materials Recycling Facility at Enstone Airfield (see also pictures above). We were guided around the site seeing how the recyclate is brought into big sheds in bags, opened up and put on a conveyor belt for sorting. In the first sorting shed cardboard is picked out for recycling and anything in closed bags is picked out for land fill. The second step is putting everything in a trommel where small waste is separated out. The remainder then goes onto another conveyor belt where aluminium cans and plastic are picked out by hand (conveyor belt pictured right).

Paper and card are bashed and aerated before being baled up for sale. Approximately 150 tonnes of waste is brought to this site every week and at least 70% of it is recycled.

Lest we think the waste we throw away is worthless, SITA currently sell the baled products from recycling centres for between £52/tonne and £700/tonne.

Following the visit to SITA, CAG members were shown around Agrivert Composting facility (pictured right) where we saw compost being turned and aerated (pictured above).

Well, there we all were again gathered to celebrate the superb works of the CAG groups this year!

CAGs came from …
Babystore Bicester * Farringdon Waste Watchers * Barracks Lane Community Garden * Sunnymead CAG * Buscot CAG * Sustainable Wallingford * Canalside Environment Group * Witney Area Waste Action Group * Charlbury CAG * Wolvercote Recycling

What did we do?

During the first sessions in the morning, we spent some time reflecting on the activities that CAGs have undertaken during the course of the year. We looked at the successes of the year including the county wide swap shop that was clearly a highlight and other successes which included working with schools & holding shredder events. We also discussed some of the challenges facing CAGs over the year and shared ways in which groups had overcome these.

We heard from Andrew Pau head of Oxfordshire County Council Waste Management about the Oxfordshire Waste Strategy. Andrew outlined the latest on how the strategy is being developed and what the likely implications are for the people of Oxfordshire. The presentation was followed by a discussion of some of the issues that arose and I'm sure we could have continued longer had it not been for the smell of lunch wafting from the kitchen.

Moira Dorey along with Sandra Simpson and John Garrett (WA-WAG) took us through the highs and lows of the Wallingford Business Recycling Project. The WBRP provided a unique partnership opportunity between CAG members, Grundons waste management company and researchers from Brookes University, using WRAP funding, to encourage small and medium sized businesses in the greater Wallingford area to recycle their business waste. It was clear that the project was a success and that everyone involved learned a great deal towards replicating this model in other towns.

In the afternoon, we had three workshop groups covering: working with schools, community composting and sustainable energy. Workshops looked at how CAGs had and could work in these areas drawing on experience from members of the groups. Elaine Steane told us all about her solar hot water system; Martin Pearse from the Recycling Consortium told us about his experiences with community composting and Moira Dorey shared CAG ideas on how to spread the sustainability message into local schools.

Following the workshops we had an update on the CAG network including the launch of the Resource Pack and the new CAG display boards that CAGs can take to events. We also talked about this year's visits and training programme starting on Monday 3rd July - look out for other dates coming soon!

Another nice surprise on the day was that Andy and Lisa from Farringdon came to the day and promptly announced their becoming a CAG; so we would like to welcome Farringdon Waste Watchers to the network!!