WitneyWAG

A group of 3 of us started the Woodgreen waste action group in 2004.  We decided to hold an open meeting at Woodgreen school and, with a few friends, we leafleted over 1200 houses in the Woodgreen area.  At the meeting people heard of the sort of things that Action Groups do and then they voted:  top of the list was for a green waste collection in Witney and second was a way to re-use things that are far too good the throw away.

We arranged our activities to reflect their choices:  with the council we arranged for a lorry to be in the WODC car park once a month for people to bring their garden waste; we hired a church hall and ran several very successful ‘Bring and Take’ or ‘swap shop’ sessions.

Each year we have continued with the green waste collections although cost prevents us having the chipping machine.

Before the green bins were introduced we asked everyone who came to our events what they wanted.  The price most were prepared to pay was £15 for a fortnightly collection.  John and Sandra presented the petition to the councilors together with the information people gave us.  It was quite a surprise to find that the council itself had done no research as to what people wanted nor the price they would pay, but simply did what the council next door was doing. Some councilors were very impressed with our work and had no idea that we even existed!

Along with The Thames Valley Energy Consortium we arranged a Solar Fair where fitters of solar panels and solar hot water brought along their products.  Several people who already have solar panels were there to talk to members of the public.

We trialled a paint collection in conjunction with Orinoco (the Scrap Store in Oxford).  It was not very successful because although everyone said ‘what a good idea – I’ve got lots of tins in the garage.’  On the day the story was a little different they all said, ‘oh I forgot will bring it next time’.  One person used it to clear their garage of all DIY products: sugar soap, glue, putty……   Once the county council decided not to reprocess paint but to put it in landfill, we have had to discontinue the collection.

We did a lot of work to set up a trial of fortnightly bin collections in just one street.  WODC were supposed to be working with us, but they pulled out at the last minute.  We canvassed many houses in our target road, Vanner Road, and about half were quite happy to only put their bin out once a fortnight – or even less frequently.  One family with 5 children could manage easily, but some two-person households said their bin was too full to leave it for two weeks.

Swap shops have now moved into town and have been responsible for re-homing a lot of good things.  Since we moved into town we decided that the name should change to Witney Waste Action Group to reflect the town-based nature of our work.

This year (2007) we borrowed the Light Bulb Library from another Waste Action Group and have offered to visit people’s homes to show the wide range of bulbs now available and to demonstrate them at events.

To spread the news of our group we have handed out leaflets in the market square; visited local cubs, brownies and other groups to talk about recycling; had stalls at the carnival and Woodgreen fêtes and – our main advertising effort – leafleted houses.  All those who come to our events are asked to deliver some leaflets to friends and family.

We have a dedicated band of people who undertake to deliver to houses in their road.

Most years we arrange one open meeting so people can come and see what we have done and offer us their ideas for future events.

The group’s activities are coordinated by a small number of us who get together once every couple of months to plan things.  You are now reading our new web site!

The group is supported by the Recycle project in conjunction with Oxford City Council.  It is known as the CAG project and there are two support workers to guide and advise us.  They also arrange training in anything we ask for, visits to incinerators, bio digesters, recycling plants etc and supply us with a small grant to cover printing costs with the option to bid for more funds for special projects.