SOENECS
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • OceanPlastics
  • TRANSFORM CE
  • Emoji Matrix
  • Case Studies
  • Pothole Spotter
  • Energy Stewardship
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Cookies Policy
  • Privacy page

New fund launched to tackle chewing gum staining

4/8/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Chewing gum stains on our high streets will be tackled through a brand new fund that launches in May.   To find out more, click CGTF


The Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme is open to councils across the UK who wish to clean the gum off the pavements in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped in the first place. In the first year of the scheme, more than £1.7 million has been invested by chewing gum producers. SOENECS are very proud to be supporting Keep Britain Tidy and the Taskforce with project managment.

Chewing gum litter stains the streets throughout our towns and cities, reaching up to 87% of the streets in England and wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in clean-up costs every year.

 Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: 
“This is an exciting new opportunity for councils to tackle the ongoing problem of gum pollution.  The grants will allow councils to clean up historic gum litter staining in our towns and cities, as well as taking action to prevent people littering in the first place.”  

The Chewing Gum Task Force brings together some of the country’s major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, as well as some producers of nicotine replacement therapy gum. Under the scheme, administered by independent environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the firms will invest up to £10 million over five years to help reduce chewing gum pollution.

Grants of up to £20,000 are available to individual councils in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to fund street cleansing and/or the purchase of cleaning equipment. Larger grants of up to £70,000 are available for two or more councils working together to achieve greater impact.

Councils will also benefit from a bespoke gum litter prevention package, including targeted behaviour change signage and advice to encourage people to bin their gum. Previous pilots run by Mars Wrigley and Behaviour Change using this signage have reduced gum littering by up to 64%.
 
The fund is now open to Expressions of Interest below, where councils can also find all the information they will need to apply. Formal applications will be welcomed in a two week window between Monday 9 and Monday 23 May 2022, and decisions will be announced by the end of May 2022.
 
Keep Britain Tidy will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday 26 April 2022 at 10am where councils can learn more about the fund and how to apply. Please express your interest below to register.  



0 Comments

Pothole-spotter wins prestigious New Tech industry award - Oct 2017

10/31/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The pioneering Pothole-spotter trial has secured a prestigious industry award which recognises its ‘great potential’ in dealing with these highly visible road defects. The project, led by the Department for Transport (DfT), in partnership with Thurrock, York and Wiltshire councils and delivered by private-sector SMEs, Gaist and SOENECS, was named winner of the ‘Best Use of New Technology’ category at the Highways Awards 2017.

The judges said the project provided “high quality and frequently refreshed information on potholes across networks providing great potential for development.”

Dr David Greenfield, managing director of SOENECS and Research lead for Pothole-spotter, said: “We are thrilled that the innovation and hard work that has gone into this project has been recognised with such a prestigious award. “It is a great achievement for a project that is still in the trial stage.”

The Pothole-spotter project and its learning will revolutionise the way councils undertake highways maintenance and how potholes and other road defects are identified and managed, reducing their number and paving the way for a high-performing local highway network fit for all road users.
On behalf of the councils involved, Parvis Khansari, Director of Highways and Transport for Wiltshire Council, said: “It is great to be part of a project that I am convinced will deliver a step change in the way we manage highways maintenance.”
Launched in January, the system uses high-definition cameras, mounted to refuse collection vehicles (RCVs), buses and bikes to capture regular, detailed images of the same sections of the highways network.
This rich data is analysed using intelligent software and the findings will be used to deepen councils’ understanding of how roads deteriorate. It will enable them to develop a long-term strategy for more effectively predicting and preventing potholes and other highways defects.
Dr Stephen Remde, Director of Innovation and Research at Gaist Solutions, said: “Not only will this imagery provide the councils involved with a near real-time understanding of how their networks are deteriorating, but it will provide data that could help to answer some important questions about highways maintenance.”
The key aims of the project are:
  • To collect and analyse road condition data to improve highway authorities’ ability to find and fix issues.
  • To gather robust data to enable councils to better understand the causes of potholes and to employ that knowledge to prevent them from forming; 
  • To help with the development of the most sustainable and cost-effective approach to local highways maintenance
Enabling councils to utilise a more planned approach to highways maintenance rather than undertaking a ‘patch and mend approach’, will save councils’ and taxpayers’ money and potentially save lives thanks to better road conditions for all road users.
The Department for Transport will consider how the use of the technology can provide authorities and other organisations with more real-time information to help identify a wider array of important features and possible issues, including cracks and other defects, signage, vegetation, debris and other characteristics.
This will help inform planned long-term investments in road and other local highway infrastructure.
The DfT will also examine how the use of this new technology - and making better use of data - can help create smarter environments to assist mobility, increase local economic opportunity and address local challenges.

For more information about the Pothole-spotter project, see www.pothole-spotter.co.uk  or email: John.Twitchen@pcsg.co.uk or Elizabeth.Owen@pcsg.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @potholesspotter



0 Comments

Brighton & Hove Eco Dinner Club 23rd May 2017

5/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
We were hosted at the wonderful Silo resturant for our first change of venue for six months. The food was wonderful, with the usual choice of vegtable, meat or fish options.

Our tastebuds were overwhelmed, amongst other ingredients, by a mixture of asparagas, bream, mushrooms, goats cheese and Sea Buckthorn. The debate as usual was lively, but rather more 1-1 discussions that group dicussions, partly due to the accustics and partly due to other diners being in the resturant. Overall, a great night, with three new members in attendance. Our next dinner club will be our 1 year anniversary, look out for it!  David.

0 Comments

May 05th, 2017

5/5/2017

0 Comments

 

Launch of the Circular Economy Dinner Club 04.05.17

Picture
Picture
Picture
The launch of the Circular Economy Dinner Club, by David Greenfield from SOENECS and Linda O'Halloran from Thinking Development Consulting, was held at the Goldfinger Factory in Goldbourne Road, Notting Hill last night.

Twenty five people from organisations as diverse as Futerra, Lloyds Bank, London Waste Recycling Board, Chatham House, UCL, Urban Farming, Folklabs, CupClub, Cogen and The Princes Trust attended.

The venue was the Goldfinger Factory, which is an award-winning design, build and teaching platform centred around upcycling that creates bespoke furniture and interiors, whilst helping artisans and artisans- in- the- making become self-sustaining through craft and in turn saving materials from landfill.

The food was locally sourced, organic and fresh and cooked by Panella with the wine being organic and in some case sulphate free. The Ale was made from waste bread.

The evening centred on different circular economy topics, including fashion, food, big data, construction and behaviour change. Many discussions were had on how the Circular Economy could be embedded in the diverse group of individuals and organisations.

The intention is to run this evening regularly, if you would like to know more please email davidg@soenecs.co.uk

0 Comments

    News

    edited by
    David Greenfield

    Archives

    April 2022
    October 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    © SOENECS Ltd 2022
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • OceanPlastics
  • TRANSFORM CE
  • Emoji Matrix
  • Case Studies
  • Pothole Spotter
  • Energy Stewardship
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Cookies Policy
  • Privacy page