Day: January 1, 2021

Christmas waste in numbers

300,000 tonnes of waste chucked out this week

The staggering amount of waste generated at Christmas can be finally revealed, with a total of 302,913 tonnes of waste being dumped this week alone across the UK, as bins are filled to the brim.

“Even with a slightly toned-down Christmas this year, we all know how full the bins get after Christmas – it’s now clear the huge environmental impact all this waste has.

“The numbers are simply astonishing – 2,000 tonnes of uneaten cheese chucked out for example”, explains Charlotte Green from recycling firm TradeWaste.co.uk

The online survey carried out by TradeWaste.co.uk asked 4,500 people about the contents of their Christmas bins – the results are remarkable, with food waste and food packaging creating the most waste this year.

“People seem to have taken to eating well this year, with lockdowns and all the doom and gloom – it seems comfort eating has become a national institution, however nearly 5,000 tonnes of half-eaten mince pies where thrown out – seems a terrible shame to me!”, adds Green.

Christmas food lovers (and haters) chucked out this year:

  • 141,525 tonnes of food packaging
  • 50,544 tonnes of leftover Christmas dinners
  • 24,600 tonnes of glass drink bottles
  • 7,500 tonnes of drink cans
  • 4,800 tonnes of leftover mince pies
  • 2,000 tonnes of cheese

It is not only leftover food waste which is filling the nations bins – wrapping paper, cards, decorations. Of course Christmas trees are all being thrown out this week – all 12,000 tonnes of them.

Luckily much of the waste created at Christmas can be recycled with trees being shredded into chippings, cards being munched for paper and some wrapping paper can be recycled too.

The interesting one is Christmas lights – these should not be put in a general waste bin, instead they need to be taken to a local authority waste site and put in the small electricals skip where they can be processed.

Seasonal goods we are chucking out this week include:

  • 30,000 tonnes of Christmas cards
  • 17,444 tonnes of Christmas wrapping paper
  • 12,500 tonnes of Christmas decorations
  • 12,000 tonnes of Christmas trees
  • 68,488 miles of broken Christmas lights

“It’s really difficult to reduce waste at Christmas, but we can all do our bit. It’s really important to split up all the waste you have and put it in the correct bin – some need to be processed differently – like broken Christmas lights.

“I just want to know who is chucking out all the mince pies, seems such a travesty!” concluded TradeWaste.co.uk‘s Charlotte Green.

New Year honours for Scottish Amulance Service staff

Two Scottish Ambulance Service staff members have been awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.

The prestigious honours have been awarded to Steph Jones, of Edinburgh, and Araf Saddiq, of Chapelhall. The awards acknowledge ambulance personnel who have shown exceptional devotion to duty, merit and conduct.

Steph, interim Ambulance Control Centre (ACC) Head of Clinical Services, has been instrumental in developing the Service’s New Clinical Response Model – aimed at saving more lives by more accurately identifying patients with immediately life-threatening conditions – and adapting the clinical triage model in the ACC to improve patient flow. She is the youngest SAS staff member to receive the award.

Araf, a Paramedic based at Douglas Ambulance Station, has contributed significantly in helping the Service to engage with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. In 2003, Araf became the first Muslim Paramedic employed by the Service. 

Steph, 34, first joined the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) in 2006, starting as a call handler. She also worked as a dispatcher and supervisor within the ACC before moving to Dunfermline Station 2010 as a technician, paramedic and team leader.

In 2016, Steph undertook a short secondment to Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance before becoming a member of the clinical team working on the New Clinical Response Model project with Neil Sinclair. 

She said: “I was speechless and completely overwhelmed when I found out. I think it’s the highest accolade someone in the Ambulance Service can ever get. I take a lot of pride in what I do and it is so nice to be recognised. This year has been challenging for everyone and to be recognised amongst people who have done so much during the pandemic is incredible.”

Steph joined the Service on her 20th birthday, after studying professional dance and choreography. Her current role involves improving the clinical aspects of the Control Rooms for patients who call 999 and leading and developing clinicians and pathways which keep patients safe throughout their journey with the Scottish Ambulance Service.

 Steph said: “As incredible as it is personally to be recognised, it’s also amazing for the ACC to be recognised.

“They can often be overlooked in the patients’ journey but all the call handlers, dispatchers, clinicians and managers within the ACC play a vital part in patient care, safety and survival and I am honoured to have been recognised for such an amazing award whilst working with such wonderful colleagues every day.”

Araf, 55 and a dad of three, joined the Scottish Ambulance Service in 1997 as an Ambulance Care Assistant. He volunteers tirelessly in his own time across a wide range of communities to raise awareness of the Service and provide a greater understanding of BAME communities and their needs.

As a member of the Scottish Ambulance Service BAME Forum, Araf, known to his colleagues as Harry, contributes valuably towards increasing the understanding of race issues and has strived to improve the diversity of its workforce, by working with the Service Equalities Lead to support and encourage increased numbers of applicants for posts.

He said he was surprised when he first received the letter announcing his award: “I thought it was a joke at first – I had to read it two to three times.

“I’m am deeply honoured and humbled to be presented with this award recognising my voluntary contributions towards diversity and inclusion within the Scottish Ambulance Service and my work within the community.

“This is a huge testament to the fantastic work the whole team are doing, we all have a common goal in making our Service a place where all are welcome regardless of race, colour, religion, gender and sexual orientation, a service that is representative of the community we serve.

“Once again, I am honoured to have been chosen for this prestigious award and it is wonderful that the hard work is being recognised.”

During the COVID 19 pandemic, Araf has been advising the community about how to stay safe and observe good practice.

Keeping an eye on health promises

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, has called for clarity over upcoming NHS Lothian infrastructure projects.

Last month (w/c 14th December) it was announced that the Scottish Government was withdrawing £45 million funding for a new Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion hospital. An initial agreement for the new hospital had already been agreed and a business case submitted in May 2019.

In a Written Answer from the Scottish Government this month, Lothian MSP Miles Briggs, was informed that an Initial Agreement, IA, had been submitted from NHS Lothian for a new Edinburgh Cancer Centre and a decision would be made this month (December) by the Capital Investment Group, CIG, based on the strategic case.

The new Edinburgh Cancer Centre would provide services for Cancer patients across the South East of Scotland.

At the start of this year, prior to Covid-19, it was announced that plans for a new Edinburgh Cancer Centre would be delayed to 2030 from the original planned date of 2025. The Scottish Government committed to investing £20 million in the current Edinburgh Cancer Centre to keep it going until the new Centre is ready.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “The confusion around new NHS Lothian infrastructure projects is extremely concerning and clarity is urgently needed on what projects are being funded.

“We are in desperate need of a replacement Edinburgh Cancer Centre, which will benefit the whole of the South East of Scotland, and is expected to be another decade before it is ready.

“The wait for routine eye treatments, such as for Glaucoma, are already incredibly long in NHS Lothian and patients deserve better than being short changed by SNP Ministers.

“I will hold SNP Ministers to their word to get these essential projects in NHS Lothian funded.

“SNP Ministers have underfunded NHS Lothian for the last 10 years. We need to see the health board receive their fair share of health funding in the upcoming budget.”

Aldi donates over 6,600 meals to Edinburgh and Lothians charities over the festive period

Local charities across Edinburgh and the Lothians have helped Aldi donate around 6,644 meals to people in need this Christmas Eve. 

The supermarket paired up its stores with local charities, community groups and food banks to make the most of unsold fresh and chilled food after stores closed on 24th December.  

Around 210 tonnes of food were donated throughout the UK, with more than 500,000 meals donated and over 750 UK causes benefitting from the initiative in total.  

The donation is Aldi’s largest to date and helped 10 charitable causes across Edinburgh and the Lothians at a time when more people are experiencing financial hardship and food insecurity due to Covid-19. 

This year, for the first time, the initiative will also extend to New Year’s Eve, when Aldi expects to donate a further 200,000 meals to charitable causes across the country. 

Aldi has also worked with partner Neighbourly to prioritise donations to charities and community groups focused on feeding children over the school Christmas holidays. 

The festive food donations are part of Aldi’s successful partnership with Neighbourly, a community giving platform that links businesses to charitable organisations. Thanks to this, all of Aldi’s 900 UK stores now donate surplus food to good causes seven days a week, all year round. 

Luke Peech, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi UK, said: “We’re proud to support good causes across Edinburgh and the Lothians this festive period, helping them to provide fresh and filling meals over the Christmas period.  

“The feedback has been overwhelming and we’re really pleased to have extended the initiative, so we can do what we can for those in need within the community in what was an incredibly tough year for so many.” 

Steve Butterworth, from Neighbourly, added: “Sadly, this festive season has been the busiest on record for the nation’s charities and food banks. I’m sure Aldi’s donation has been a lifeline for many.” 

‘Sobering’: Scotland enters post-EU era

The impact of the UK Government’s ‘damging’ Brexit deal on the people and economy of Scotland has been revealed in Scottish Government analysis.

The analysis lays out the challenges presented in mitigating the wide ranging impact of the deal, and underlines why the Scottish Government believes the best future for Scotland is as an independent country within the EU.

The comparison between the benefits of being a full member of the European Union (EU) and the position after the end of the transition period shows no corner of Scotland’s life and work will be untouched.

The UK deal, which has been denied consent by the Scottish Parliament, means Scotland has been taken out of the Single Market and the Customs Union, hitting jobs and living standards hard.

This initial analysis lays out what Scotland has lost by leaving the EU with this deal – and what it would regain by re-joining – highlighting the impact on Scotland’s economy, trade in services, fisheries, participation in EU programmes, internal security, free movement of people and the environment.

It includes detail on various sectors, including food, for example, where the UK Government has not secured any legally binding protection within the EU of existing UK Geographical Indicators (GIs) – nor any preferential arrangements for the recognition in the EU of potential future UK GIs.  

Constitution Secretary Michael Russell said: “This analysis is sobering reading for anyone with Scotland’s best interests at heart.

“Post-Brexit relationships with the EU could have taken many different forms and the damaging outcome with which we are now faced is the result of a political choice by the UK Government, and firmly against the wishes of Scotland.

“As a responsible government we are doing everything we can to mitigate against the consequences of the UK Government’s actions, but we cannot avert every negative outcome.

“We know that businesses are already struggling under the burden of COVID-19, and are now faced with the need to prepare for the economic shock of this hard Brexit.

“Our position is clearer than ever – Scotland now has the right to choose its own future, as an independent country and seek to regain the benefits of EU membership.

“This analysis demonstrates the substantial benefits that we would regain by becoming an independent member state in our own right.”

The analysis of the deal’s impact can be read online.

The analysis, published on Hogmanay, may also be seen as the opening salvo in May’s Holyrood elections. Happy New Year! – Ed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s New Year message

Well folks we are coming to the end of 2020.

The year in which the Government was forced to tell people how to live their lives, how long to wash their hands, how many households could meet together.

And a year in which we lost too many loved ones before their time.

So I can imagine that there will be plenty of people who will be only too happy to say goodbye to the grimness of 2020.

But just before we do, I want to remind you that this was also the year when we rediscovered a spirit of togetherness, of community.

It was a year in which we banged saucepans to celebrate the courage and self-sacrifice of our NHS staff and care home workers

A year in which working people pulled the stops out to keep the country moving in the biggest crisis we have faced for generations – shopworkers, transport staff, pharmacists, emergency services, everyone, you name it.

We saw a renewed spirit of volunteering, as people delivered food to the elderly and vulnerable.

And time after time as it became necessary to fight new waves of the virus, we saw people unite in their determination, our determination, to protect the NHS and to save lives.

Putting their lives, your lives, on hold. Buying precious time for medicine to provide the answers, and it has.

In 2020 we have seen British scientists not only produce the world’s first effective treatment of the disease, but just in the last few days a beacon of hope has been lit in the laboratories of Oxford.

A new room temperature vaccine that can be produced cheaply and at scale, and that offers literally a new lease of life to people in this country and around the world.

And with every jab that goes into the arm of every elderly or vulnerable person, we are changing the odds, in favour of humanity and against Covid.

And we know that we have a hard struggle still ahead of us for weeks and months, because we face a new variant of the disease that requires a new vigilance.

But as the sun rises on 2021 we have the certainty of those vaccines.

Pioneered in a UK that is also free to do things differently, and if necessary better, than our friends in the EU.

Free to do trade deals around the world.

And free to turbocharge our ambition to be a science superpower.

From biosciences to artificial intelligence,

and with our world-leading battery and wind technology we will work with partners around the world,

not just to tackle climate change but to create the millions of high skilled jobs this country will need not just this year – 2021 – as we bounce back from Covid, but in the years to come.

This is an amazing moment for this country.

We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it.

And I think it will be the overwhelming instinct of the people of this country to come together as one United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland working together to express our values around the world.

Leading both the G7 and the COP 26 climate change summit in Glasgow – and an open, generous, outward looking, internationalist and free trading global Britain that campaigns for 12 years of quality education for every girl in the world.

2021 is the year we can do it, and I believe 2021 is above all, the year when we will eventually do those everyday things that now seem lost in the past.

Bathed in a rosy glow of nostalgia, going to the pub, concerts, theatres, restaurants, or simply holding hands with our loved ones in the normal way.

We are still a way off from that, there are tough weeks and months ahead.

But we can see that illuminated sign that marks the end of the journey, and even more important, we can see with growing clarity how we are going to get there.

And that is what gives me such confidence about 2021. Happy New Year!