London Community Resource Network

We bring to you a series of blogs posted by Chief Exec Matthew Thomson on the letsrecycle.com website.

Back in the summer of 2009 I was contacted by Green Books, an independent UK publishing company specialising in environmental and cultural books. "Would you be interested in receiving a review copy of Nicky Scott's new book, 'How to Make and Use Compost: the Ultimate Guide'?", they asked. I was surprised and probably a little bit flattered that I'd been considered as a potential recipient, even after I admitted that we didn't have a policy of reviewing books of any kind.

Day 6: Thursday

Day 3: Monday

Friday: Onto the Climate Camp buses at Embankment, and finally off to Copenhagen for the COP (off) 15 festival. No troubles at Dover and several service stations later (no toilet on the bus) we’ve passed through France, Belgium and Germany. For a coach trip, it was actually quite pleasant; good people, a bit of singing, reading, joking and legal updates. Before you know it, we hit the German – Danish border….

A bit of an incubated blog post this time round, stemming from a desire just over a week ago to honour a lady whose community involvement and commitment led to something magnificent taking place in her local park; but in light of recent events, I feel moved to widen the scope a little bit and pay my respects to another wonderful and amazing lady who left a legacy of enormous significance.

Co-operatives UK and the Development Trust Association, along with (Department of) Communities and Local Government and others, are currently running a scheme to do with helping community-based projects finance capital infrastructure using the Industrial and Provident Society (ie co-operative) model to issue shares and bonds. I attended their first briefing seminar in Waterloo on 22nd April; and it was a very interesting event.

Reuse It Yourself Centres - A free event to help you set up a ReIY Centre in your area

12th May 2009
1 till 4.30pm
Downstream Building, CAN Mezzanine
1 London Bridge SE1

ReIY Centres are already being set up around the UK

The submissions for the London Waste and Recycling Board's

Today's Green Alliance seminar on compostable plastics has left me with a bitter-sweet taste of the markets in my mouth.

The day started with presentations and discussions on the positive and negative points of using compostable plastics made from renewable carbon sources such as corn starch: collection methods, the supply chain and a cradle to cradle carbon analysis. Very informative but with no real concensus from the myriad of stakeholders present on the best course of action to their use in the future.