Dorchester Carbon Project's (DCP) ‘Towards Zero Waste Places' programme has been a great success in the village. The ‘back to basic' workshops have been well attended and informative, with the cooking workshop dishing up some tasty recipes using leftovers. The school now composts 100% of its food waste, including cooked food from the kitchens, and recycles 100% of the waste that can be taken by the local district council. Pupils took part in school waste audits to identify the type of waste produced by the school and in their packed lunches. Pupils then took part in packaging workshops, teaching them to identify minimal and recyclable packaging when shopping.
DCP has now attained the fulfil Defra's ‘Zero Waste Place Standard'. The Zero Waste Place Standard has been developed by Defra, the BREW Centre for Local Authorities and the University of Northampton. An accredited Zero Waste Place will benefit from country wide recognition and will include a 5 year action plan which will act as a catalyst for sustained and further action.
Zero waste" is considered to be a simple way of encapsulating the aim to go as far as possible in reducing the environmental impact of waste. It is a visionary goal which seeks to prevent waste occurring, conserves resources and recovers all value from materials. Places which are seen to demonstrate a significant attack on waste, including going beyond targets placed in the Waste Strategy 2007 will be accredited as "zero waste places". A "Place" can vary from being a small street upwards in size e.g. a street market, retail park, high street, village, town or a whole authority.
More details: http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=4684811
