Home | Friday 11th March 2005 | Issue 488

WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!! AND FEEL THE BURN...

SchNEWS
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Story Links:
BURN AND BREAD | Have we got News for You | SchNEWS in Brief | Squat a Success | The Current Scum | Rum Coke | Piss Power | TOTAL-ITARIAN | ...and finally...

BURN AND BREAD

“They’ve gone from an unthinking policy of burying it, to an unthinking policy of burning it.”
- Dr.C.Eberlein, Sussex University

Brighton residents might think they are really cool, alternative and green, but the reality is that when it comes to recycling – they are, well, rubbish, and like to shit all over Newhaven. Currently all the waste that isn’t recycled (which is only 19.4% at the moment) goes to landfill at Beddingham near Newhaven, but because of the EU Landfill Directive this can’t last forever and Brighton Council along with East Sussex County Council has signed a £1 billion contract with Onyx for a 25 year ‘Integrated Waste Management Contract’.

Sounds good? Er, well this ‘Integrated Waste’ is in fact centred around a massive incinerator (sorry, ‘Energy Recovery Facility’) at Newhaven to cope with 250,000 tonnes of waste per year from all over East Sussex. So while the councils have paid lip service to recycling initatives, in reality if the incinerator is ever built, they will be fined by Onyx if they don’t produce enough rubbish for them to burn! The problem with incinerators is that when you burn rubbish you still end up with rubbish – just in a different form, either gases and particles released to the air or ash left behind after burning.

The gasses and particles released to the air read like a poisoner’ s shopping list (see box). The worst of these are dioxins, which disrupt the immune system, cause cancer, result in fewer male offspring, cause endocrine disruption, learning disabilities and behavioural problems. US Army chemical warfare researcher Dr Friedrich Hoffman told the army “dioxin was too deadly to be used for chemical warfare purposes”.

According to those who operate them modern incinerators put out very little pollution. But they are self regulated and independent monitoring only occurs twice a year – and even then they are given notice as to when it will be. A Belgian study has shown that dioxin levels, if continuously monitored, may be 30-50 times higher than the figure that emerges from this monitoring.

HAWKS ‘N’ DOVES

One third of the waste burnt ends up as ash, laden with heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and others). This ash is classed as hazardous waste and has to be, er, landfilled. If the Newhaven incinerator gets the green light 183 tonnes of the stuff will be transported all the way to Gloucestershire – every day - adding more pollution from the lorries.

So why have the Councils opted for such a stupid option? Simple – short term gain. Building an incinerator “solves” the waste problem for minimum cost and effort. The incinerator would only employ about 25 people, which is a cheaper financial option than the alternatives. But the problem with incinerators is that the “costs” are born in different ways – mostly through the impact on people’s health.

Naturally the people of Newhaven aren’t best pleased about having the county’s waste dumped on them. Over 23,000 representations were made to the draft waste plan, thanks in part to DOVE (Defenders of the Ouse Valley and Estuary) who’ve been fighting these proposals, and describe the process as “a little like a game of snakes and ladders in that you don’t really know where you will end up next at the start of each turn.” Thanks to protests, including a 600 strong demo on the ‘day of health’ at the public enquiry, the planning inspector produced a report criticising the councils’ Local Waste Plan and stated an incinerator was unnecessary – which the councils then promptly ignored, insisting an incinerator is needed. Just like their incinerator this is a load of toxic shit.

So what are the alternatives? Recycling is an obvious option. One third of all waste is compostable (kitchen and garden waste) and could be made into organic compost in municipal composters. While its easy to recycle newspapers, glass, cans etc., what about all the other waste tat still has to be dealt with? The answer is Mechanical Biological Treatment which sorts out recyclable waste, using magnets, grates, air streams and eddy currents. The remainder is treated biologically, this final waste product can either be safely landfilled or used as a soil conditioner. But don’t just believe our word for it, here’s what Peter Jones, the Director of Biffa Waste Services says: “It is entirely possible to achieve the Landfill Directive without using incineration, using a flexible ‘pick and mix’ option. Such an option would utilise source separation, kerbside collection, composting, recycling and mechanical screening to deal with municipal waste in a way that actively contributes to the economic, social and environmental goals of sustainable development.”

This approach has been adopted elsewhere and is called a “Zero Waste Strategy”. Canberra in Australia is recycling 66% of its waste and has reduced disposal to landfill by 42% over the last 5 years. Over 30% of all authorities in New Zealand have implemented a Zero Waste Strategy. The process is simple and could very easily be implemented in Britain, but lack of any government initiatives has resulted in waste increasing by over 3% each year.

But best of all would be reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place – by repairing items, less packaging and ultimately the rejection of a consumerist lifestyle.

SUPERPEN

Luckily there’s still time to stop the Newhaven incinerator being built. SchNEWS isn’t usually one for encouraging people to write letters to those in power (as they’re usually incinerated), but this time it could prevent the councils going ahead with their waste plans. Write letters of objection stating that you “OBJECT to all modifications and rejections proposed by East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council to the waste local plan” and that “Changes I wish to see are to accept the Inspector’s recommendations in full”. Send your letters to: Joint Waste Local Plan Team, Transport & Environment Department (WLP), FREEPOST (LW43), Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1BR. These must be received by noon 24th March, so get writing NOW. More information about the letter writing at: www.dove2000.org/dove/info/guidelines.asp

There will also be a Silent Protest against the incinerator at County Hall, Lewes where East Sussex council will be meeting from 10am, Tuesday 5th April.

General information about the anti-incinerator campaign see: www.dove2000.org and www.brighton.co.uk/incinerator

Have We Got News For You

SchNEWS is going on tour again this April-ish with “Have I Got SchNEWS For You” A blatant rip off of the TV show but done in SchNEWS style with anti-G8 emphasis. If you want us to come to your area or festival get in contact ASAP to arrange a date, venue and all the other logistical nightmares that go with a tour like this. schnews@brighton.co.uk

SchNEWS in brief

• Pirate Radion 4A back on the airwaves this weekend including a new politics show and a childrens show. 101.4 FM in Brighton area and www.radio4a.org.uk worldwide and for info and schedule
• Mad March Fayre on Hastings Pier this Saturday (12) “A real outdoor music festival, indoors. No mud, real toilets!” 07729331614 www.madmarchfayre.com
• Next Tuesday (15) George Solomou ex TA refused to serve in Iraq will be speaking at the Mad Hatter Café, Western Rd, Brighton 7.30 pm. www.safp.org.uk
• Check out the G8 Legal working group website www.g8legalsupport.info where you can view the “Guide to Scots Law & Police Powers”
• Interested in learning some new direct action training skills? Organise a training event in your area for the G8 and beyond! info@skillsharing.org.uk
• Schwoops, sorry to all those who went to see the SchNEWS at Ten film in Bath. The film was sent by courier but mysteriously turned into a seven foot wooden pole enroute. Whilst the pole wouldn’t be very interesting to watch, it would of course be useful for sticking up the arses of slack delivery services who take yer dosh but don’t give a flying fig where your parcel gets to in the end.
• SchNEWS is in dire need of more of yer Crap Arrests. We know there are thousands out there – send ‘em in.
  

SQUAT A SUCCESS

After 6 months squatting an abandoned children’s nursery in Birmingham, the council has agreed to squatters’ demands that the building be returned to local community use. The former council nursery had been boarded up and deserted for two years before the Nursery Social Centre Collective took it over in August. They have been running it as a community centre with fair-trade café, meeting place for workshops, cultural events, housing for homeless people, and a community garden. The collective resisted three evictions successfully, dressed in santa suits for the last one, and won over the support of the local community, media, and even judges in the court case said ‘they were doing a good job’. They have voluntarily agreed to move on as Birmingham City Council have agreed that the RITE project, which works with young people excluded from the education system, will take over the building.

It’s a shame that the council didn’t agree to the collective’s proposal to continue their social project, and that the RITE project only needs to be re-housed because they are being chucked out of their present building because - surprise surprise - it’s being sold off to a private buyer. But for this building at least, direct action has persuaded the council to put a public building back into social use. www.stuffit.org/nursery

* Leeds has a new autonomous anti-capitalist space with plans for a cafe, radical bookshop and library, film showings and more. The Common Place is at 23-25 Wharf St Leeds. www.thecommonplace.org.uk

THE CURRENT SCUM

Tories and our beloved Sun newspaper (and now The Daily Nazi Rag, sorry Mail - Ed) reacted angrily to Labour’s recent about-turn on the Traveller Site issue. Finally conceding their right to have space to live, the Government have authorised councils to provide land for sale to Travellers, ending standoffs around the island.

That Voice of Reason, the Sun, has declared war on the travellers, urging people to “Stamp On The Camps”. Their racist bile in recent days has led to a prosecution for incitement to hatred by the Traveller Law Reform Coalition. Meanwhile, the head of Constant Baliff Co., a thug force that carries out Traveller evictions, had a home visit. Twelve people protesting Constant’s violent clearance of camps banged pots outside his house (Rough Music style) and leafleted his neighbours, telling them what a toe rag they live next to.
www.travellerslaw.org.uk

RUM COKE

Over the years Coca-Cola have never been far away from the pages of SchNEWS... a prime example of the type of big globalized business, aggressively pedaling unhealthy crap around the planet, and doing it in the now clichéd, unethical, answer-to-no-one American style that we all know and love so well. Recently, attention has been on them for such minor things as brutality and murder in Columbia and causing water-shortages and pollution in India (see SchNEWS 447). They’re so big that there’s little we can do but refuse to buy the stuff and sign the odd petition, right? Wrong.

In what could be the first such action against Coke in the UK, last Friday, at horrible o’clock in the morning, anti-capitalist activists and human rights campaigners blockaded Coca-Cola’s distribution centre in Longwell Green, Bristol. Side and main entrance gates were locked and eight protestors, representing the eight trade-union supporters assassinated in Columbia since 1989 (not to mention the many more beaten, imprisoned, etc) “arm-locked” themselves together - preventing lorries from entering or leaving the site. Other people held banners and placards, handed out leaflets to Coca-Cola workers and passers-by explaining the reasons for their action.

Workers at the plant, including a union official, were supportive of the protest. They told protesters they are suffering from the same pressures as Coke workers in Colombia. They said they are pressured to give up union membership, to work on casual contracts, and to work more hours for less pay. Protesters said this is exactly the type of thing the eight assassinated Colombian trade union workers were resisting; and that their resistance cost them their lives.

Protest supporter Dave Williams said: “I came down tonight to support this because the UK is one of the biggest consumers of Coca-Cola in the world, and it’s a company with a lot of blood on its hands.” The protest lasted over 5 hours and blocked at least twenty lorries. The depot serves the whole of Wales and the West Country and the inconvenience is bound to have to taken the fizz out of some executives’ day. Direct action? It’s the real thing…

www.killercoke.org www.cokewatch.org www.indiaresource.org

PISS POWER

As we’re going on about recycling this week, here’s some novel things we’ve heard about lately:

* Villagers in Matimangwe in the northwest of Mozambique have converted their pit toilets into composters that use a human-waste compost-latrine system called EcoSan. They use the compost to help grow crops and sell the excess crap to help pay for clean wells and schoolbooks.

* In San Francisco, a composting programme collects discarded food and sells it on to organic farms and vineyards, while restaurants save on refuse costs.

* Piss-powered fuel cells! This new kind of fuel cell, microbial fuel cells, are so named because they contain microbes - live bacteria. Almost any kind of organic matter can be food for microbes, says Northwestern University researcher Bruce Rittman, “Instead of just one fuel for fuel cells, hydrogen gas, you can consider almost any fuel: wastewater, agricultural waste, food residues…”

* ”While we are considering innovative recycling, may I tell the Hon. Lady that I have a constituent who had a couple of gallstones removed and has made them into very attractive earrings?” Norman Baker (Lewes MP)
SchNews thinks fuel cells are one thing but is he taking the…?

TOTAL-ITARIAN

Question: how can a near-bankrupt corrupt military regime continue to maintain its grip over 46m people whom have repeatedly protested, and voted, against it? Answer: get Western companies, in their never-ending quest for cheap profits, to fund the regime. Yes, thanks big oil! Despite many Western corporations having been forced out of Burma by shareholder and consumer pressure (some more reluctantly than others we should add), there are always some who just don’t give a shit about things like legitimacy of government, torture or brutality. Step forward TOTAL Oil.

Yes the French backed company “has become the main supporter of the Burmese military regime” according to the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi, who has largely lived under house-arrest since the NLD won a landslide ‘victory’ in the 1990 ‘free’ elections – swiftly quashed by General Ne Win (or is that No Win?) and the military. TOTAL’s joint venture in the Yadana gas project is estimated to earn the junta hundreds of millions of dollars per year – all very welcome in the costly battle to repress the locals (more than half the country’s income is spent on the military and Burma spend less on health than any other country in the world). In addition, security forces have committed horrific human rights abuses in the region of TOTAL’s gas pipeline - villagers have been killed, raped, tortured, beaten and used as slave labour. Mercy? Non, merci!

Another hidden benefit of this involvement is that the French, “looking after their interests”, have therefore used their veto to consistently derail attempts to get effective EU sanctions in place again Burma (or ‘Myanmar’ as the junta rebranded the country after the crackdown in 1990). A major new campaign, supported by 41 organizations in 18 countries, has been launched to get TOTAL totally out of Burma.

And you can join in: Tell TOTAL Oil to pull out of Burma now! Send them an email via the website: www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.html

...and finally...

Taking the piss has never been this easy as Belgian Vice President Joahn Vande Lanotte discovered when he visited the urinals of his ministry just before George Bush was due to visit the country. Stuck on the inside of the pee-pan was a cartoon graphic of Bush with the words – GO ON. PISS ON ME!

The colourful “piss-stickers” are still working their way around schools, pubs and youth clubs, even after Air Force One’s stop (possibly to go to the toilet, we don’t know) as part of Bush’s Euro’pee’on walkabout a couple of weeks ago.

Of course not everyone got the joke as one citizen has filed a complaint with the Belgium judiciary “This sticker has nothing to do with freedom of speech,” he says. “If I go to the gents in the pub nowadays, I am forced to pee on Bush and the American flag because it is impossible to miss this sticker.” Perhaps he should aim a bit higher.

Of course this is not a unique idea - does anyone remember wiping their arse on Margaret Thatcher bog roll in the eighties? SchNEWS has never been ashamed of its toilet humour antics. Does anyone else know of similar such abuses of high profile figures?

* If you want to see a copy of the infamous sticker “urine” luck - go to:
www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/276vsdtv.asp

Disclaimer
SchNEWS warns all readers don’t waste time getting yer fingers burnt by playing with fire. Just keep cool asbestos you can when you get the hots... Honest!

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