Members' News
AWARD FOR BUXTON RECYCLING PROJECT

HIGH Peak Borough Council has been honoured for its involvement in a pioneering partnership that has increased recycling in Buxton.

In July 2010, the council joined forces with Nestle Waters UK and Recycling of Used Plastics Ltd (Recoup) to unveil 21 recycling stations in and around busy locations including Spring Gardens, Buxton Opera House and Fairfield Community Centre. Each station has sections for general waste, cans and plastic bottles.

In the eight months to last March, the stations collected a staggering 1,440 kilograms of recyclable materials.

And, before Christmas, the Recycling on the Go scheme was commended by the Food and Services Federation at its Community Partnership Awards for 2011.

Buoyed up by the project’s success, the partners are to establish 15 further stations this year.

The recyclables are collected by the council’s clean team, co-ordinated by street care team leader Robin Cummings with support from Oliver Bagshaw. The team takes the materials to the Waterswallows civic amenity site, where the bags are placed in a skip. When the skip is full, Peak Waste takes it to its Kniveton depot, where the rubbish is weighed and sorted into plastic bottles and cans. The bottles are then baled with other plastics on site and sent for reprocessing.

Recoup’s role is to survey consumers from time to time to measure participation in the scheme and appetite for its expansion.

Paulo Sangiorgi, managing director of Nestle Waters UK, explained: “As an organisation that takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously, we wanted to give our consumers new opportunities to recycle – and Buxton was the natural place to start as it’s the home of our factory and our Buxton Water brand.

“Hopefully, our Recycle on the Go initiative will make a small but important contribution to increasing the current UK recycling rate of 46 per cent for plastic bottles”, he added.

His words were echoed by Anthony McKeown, executive councillor for community services: “Since 2006, the council has been working towards an ever-more comprehensive kerbside recycling service. For example, in 2010, the scheme was extended to include the collection of food waste for recycling.

“These improvements have seen High Peak's recycling rate doubling in three years, from 18.66 per cent in 2007/08 to 42 per cent in 2010/11.

“Now, we’re looking at options to expand the service even further this year by introducing the collection of plastics for recycling. Therefore, it goes without saying that we’re delighted to be working with Nestle Waters and Recoup on the Recycle on the Go scheme”.

 
Flourishing Fringe More Popular Than Ever!

Flourishing Fringe More Popular Than Ever!

While Britain may be burdened by cost-cutting and financial belt-tightening, the Buxton Festival Fringe has released figures showing that it is actively flourishing.

Over the run of the Fringe, 9837 tickets were sold – 12.6% up on last year, with an 8.8% rise in the number of people buying tickets. Some 800 of these tickets were to the highly successful Buxton Military Tattoo at the Dome, but audiences this year also attended more performances per person. Best of all, a stunning 93% of audience members who responded to the survey scored 4 or 5 out of 5 for overall enjoyment, an increase from 91% last year and 86% the previous year.

38% of audience respondents were attending Fringe for the first time – similar to 2008, but lower than 2009.  However, the Fringe saw an increase in those attending for a second year, suggesting that more of the new audiences are returning. 48% of those attending Fringe events also attended events as part of the main Festival (a similar figure to the last two years).

Proving that the Fringe is immensely popular with performers too, this year’s event was the biggest ever with some 151 entrants and a huge variety of arts on offer. At least 1550 people were involved in performing or putting on events and the Fringe received many kind comments from satisfied artists.

Taking into account both visitor spend and performers putting on events, there was an estimated expenditure associated with the Fringe of nearly £364,500, about 4% up on last year. Over 90 per cent of this was spent locally.

The Fringe remains a huge local draw with some 33% of the audience coming from SK17 postcodes and nearly half from the SK postcode area. 46% of this year's entrants also had SK postcodes.

Fringe chair Stephanie Billen sums up: ‘Everyone has noticed that the Fringe has been getting bigger over the past few years but we are just as delighted to see that it is becoming even more enjoyable, both for audiences and performers. We are getting interest now from all over the country and from abroad, but we couldn’t do what we do without the support we receive from our local community including main sponsor, the University of Derby Buxton, plus Trevor Osborne of the Crescent Spa Hotel Project; the Old Hall Hotel; the Opera House; the Borough Council and all our superb volunteers and venues.'



Anyone keen to become involved behind the scenes or who has an interest in the Fringe is invited to contact Stephanie via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or attend the AGM on Wednesday November 10 at the Old Hall Hotel, Buxton at 7.30pm.





Amongst the feedback received for 2010 were the following quotes from Fringe goers:


’A great Festival throughout the town’
’Fills every day with good choices’
’It keeps getting bigger and better. Much better programme presentation and layout in recent years’
’Great shows! Nice People Good Fun! Keeps us young!’



And from performers:

‘Thanks so much for a fantastic experience and the hard work of everyone. I hope to see you all next year!

 I'll be brandishing my Buxton Fringe umbrella round Edinburgh in a week with pride.’ Hayden Cohen

‘I would like to say thanks for the outstanding support I received fromthe Fringe team right from the first contact

when I first consideredattending.’ Phil Mountford, Fordante

‘Well done for another successful Fringe.’ Rebecca Little, Little Pixie Productions

 
 
Buxton Mineral Water Recycle-On-The-Go

Buxton Natural Mineral Water has unveiled a scheme aimed at increasing recycling opportunities in its home town in the Peak District.

The initiative involves the installation of 18 "on-the-go" recycle stations in Buxton. By the end of August, 26 stations will have been installed.

Each recycle station has three sections: general waste, cans and plastic bottles. The project is a partnership between Buxton Natural Mineral Water, Recoup and High Peak Borough Council.

"As an on-going commitment, we will continue to develop recycling facilities in Buxton and the Peak District," said Buxton Natural Mineral Water chief executive Paolo Sangiorgi.

"The Recycle on the Go initiative is the first of its kind to launch in Buxton," said High Peak Mayor Graham Oakley

"The campaign objectives to increase awareness of recycling on the go and deliver an uplift of recyclable material will position Buxton as a more sustainable town."

Buxton Mineral Water Recycle-On-The-Go