A clean, green town for everyone is the aim of the Environmental Action Forum

Taking pride and responsibility for Rochdale was the order of the day at the town’s first ever Environmental Action Forum.

The event, which was hosted by the Rochdale Environmental Action Group (REAG) at Castlemere Community Centre, brought together voluntary groups, officials from Rochdale Environmental Management Sservices and the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority along with local residents, with the intention of raising the awareness of the problems that litter and fly tipping can create for the image of the town.

Following an introduction from REAG Chairwoman Christine Mathewson, Councillor Andy Kelly, from the Milnrow Keep Green Volunteer Team, stressed the importance of volunteering and how it can help to develop stronger ties between people within a small community.

Peter Thwaite, from the Wardle Volunteers, showed in a presentation how litter picking had led the group to take on larger projects, including reclaiming overgrown green spaces to help maintain the appearance of the village.

The Mayoress, Cecile Biant, donned her ‘other hat’ as the leader of Spotland Pride to explain how it had grown from a single group to become more of a facilitator, providing equipment and support to a number of smaller teams working in Spotland.

Christine Mathewson concluded the voluntary group presentations by illustrating how REAG had worked with many residents to tidy up unsightly alleyways and patches of waste land within Milkstone and Deeplish, outlining the intention of helping people to take pride in their area and committing to keeping it tidy through their own efforts.

The importance of volunteering was emphasised by guest speaker Tony Lloyd, Police and Crime Commissioner and interim Mayor of Greater Manchester. Mr Lloyd highlighted how small community groups working together can effect change on a large scale. He also drew attention to the impression given that heavily littered areas were also associated with high rates of crime.

The financial cost of littering and disposing of rubbish was brought to the forum’s attention by Nigel Murphy from the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, who pointed out that Rochdale has the lowest rate for recycling materials within the county. This point was taken up by Mark Widdup, Director of Neighborhoods for Rochdale Council, who outlined the pressure that the council faces in meeting new budgetary restrictions and how, as a ‘proud Rochdalian’, he would support any changes which were necessary to help improve the town’s recycling rate, reducing costs and thereby maintaining vital services.

Neil Mavers, from the Environmental Management Service, explained in detail the incoming changes to the waste bin collection service, before giving a practical demonstration as to how the new food caddies should be used. This led into the interactive part of the day, where all attendees were placed into two teams and challenged to put the right item of rubbish into the right bin – pride being the prize at stake. It proved to be a very popular exercise, prompting lots of questions from the floor.

Local children were encouraged to attend the forum and whilst the adults listened to the presentations they had been busy making a garden out of recyclable materials and a poster highlighting the danger of litter to small animals, both of which they presented after the ‘bin and win’ competition.

In his closing remarks, the Mayor of Rochdale, Surinder Biant, thanked everyone who had helped to make the event possible, saying: “One of my missions as the Mayor of Rochdale has been to make it a clean and inviting place to live, and this has been a huge step towards making that happen.”