This year there has been so much going on in our projects they really are emerging and evolving at pace, flying – to quote from The Story of Zero Waste made with the Artitude Project “growing wings”!
With our projects being so emergent and self-sustaining it is important for us to meet in celebration of our achievements and to cross-pollinate each other with ideas, hopefulness and stories of learning and success.
Committee Updates
The ZWNW Committee completed major work on policies this year, including:
A Volunteer Policy, a Safeguarding Policy, a Health and Safety Policy, and guidance on our Ways of Working. Equality and Diversity Policy, a Grievance & Problem Solving policy. Also organising further training on Safeguarding.
Usual bookkeeping work by Stewart and Marian including Helping Lifecycles Fly the Nest.
Lots of work going on by all sorts of members to remain in contact and supporting Partners and similarly aligned organisations. Too many to mention them all.
Anjuli special thanks to Attending ZW Europe event in the Spring
Maeve O’Neill with her links to Council and Unions.
Mary McGuiggan and all the networking involved with gathering.
As always, the comms team welcomes all updates/ blogs/ news and media, notice of events and the like for the website, please contact: comms@zerowastenw.org to have your material uploaded.
The Gathering
This year, The Gathering itself happened at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy, 28-29 June. It opened with an event advocating for an independent EPA. The main event focused on the crisis at Lough Neagh and featured scientists and activists. Highlights included primary school students reading their poetry about water and Food for My Soul, a performance about the Lower River Bann directed by Mary McGuiggan. The Gathering donated £300 to the Save Our Sperrins campaign based on contributions made at the event.
The Mobuoy Dump is one of the largest illegal dumps in Europe right on the banks of the River Faughan. The sentencing for waste crime is to take place on November 29th in Coleraine. Another podcast was made about Mobuoy for BBC 4. The series is called Buried and is available on BBC 4 as podcasts and on iPlayer.
Separate from that the Gathering continues to support grassroots campaigners through email, social media and attending in person events, marches and fundraisers, speaking at rallies and taking part in panel discussions, online events and symposiums.
The current groups with the Gathering include the Rights of Nature, Language, Health, Waste Crime, Planning, and the Aarhus Convention. Videos explaining the topics discussed in each sub group are now available on the ZWNW web site. The Gathering subgroups continue to meet most months, with links to these meetings available on the ZWNW website.
Next year’s Gathering possibly will take place in Moville. If anyone would like to join the Gathering Events Team, contact Mary.
Rights of Nature
The island-wide Rights of Nature group continues to gain momentum. In Derry, the group hosted several screenings of the EJNI films with panel discussion, including at Ulster University and CCA Derry-Londonderry. The new DCSDC Climate and Sustainability Commission has appointed Liam Campbell to represent the interests of the Foyle. ZWNW members are collaborating with others on the newly-created Foyle Guardians group.
The Foyle Inquiry Group is a 6-week exploration of our personal relationships with Foyle Waterbodies which will end in December.
Climate Fresk
Conall has run Climate Fresk events at the Northwest West College (My World my Home), in Belfast, and online. Conall is working with other facilitators as they work through the Active Hope podcast.
Education
This autumn a group has started to meet about teaching about zero waste and the circular economy in schools. If you’d like to learn more or take part contact Conall.
Litter Pick
In addition to the litter picking that ZWNW members do independently, just this autumn a litter picking group has started. Christine is facilitating this, with the idea a group of pickers will tackle new areas in particular need. Keep an eye on Facebook for announcements about upcoming litter picks.
Toy Library
The Toy Library, located at CREEVAGH CROI opened weekly for the Friday Stay and Play last year, with a break over the summer. There’s been a strong cohort of attendance with new links made with Bunscoil. Volunteers helped keep the database of members current and new signage was created. The Toy Library was been shortlisted for funding from the John Moore’s Foundation. If funded they will open a stay and play on Saturdays with a paid facilitator. In the coming year they will continue to recruit new members and do a refurbishment of the toys with a focus on toys for older children.
Transform Trade
When the Zero Waste hub was open, the sale of fairtrade stock was slow. Since the closure of the Hub Stewart continues to make available tea, coffee, chocolate, along with Zaytoun and tissue products with any profit from sales going to ZWNW.
With time and energy Fairtrade could be promoted by using the ZWNW website to show what fairtrade products are available in our council area and the shops that sell them. Facebook could be used to give updates from the wider Fairtrade movement and coffee/café owners could be contacted to encourage the use of fairtrade.
Recently contact with Fairtrade Ireland was re-established. Jim Keys and Stewart attended the Supporters Conference on the 1st December 2023 in Limerick.
The biggest challenge for Fair Trade is companies and producers are now setting their own ethical standards, which are not as thorough as Fairtrade.
Little Footprints
Within the last year, Little Footprints has continued to host weekly drop-ins on Tuesdays at the Verbal Arts Centre. The drop-in provided peer support, communication centric play, and arts and crafts. All encourage creativity without the noise of commercialisation. The group continued to support sustainable parenting ideas that met parents and caregivers where they were at.
The project was holding space for exploring the Parenthood Penalty, which loosely translates to anything being converted into a currency/debt that parents would ‘pay for’ as a direct result for caring for their child/children. Little Footprints hosted an information session on Type 1 diabetes and also hosted fun days for Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick’s day and Easter inviting the Fountain Primary School.
In November the group moved to the Aras Colmcille heritage centre at the Longtower and has started to host get togethers on Monday from 10:30 to 12:00. The focus will be special education needs inclusive play. Peer support will continue and with that signposting when necessary.
Life Cycles
Life Cycles continues to thrive in 2024.
In the previous 12 months LC have saved over 1800 bicycles from Pennyburn Landfill. The group is actively pursuing additional space to be used for salvaging bicycles, training volunteers, and teaching bicycle maintenance. LC has seen 23 volunteers this year, most on a weekly basis. Three youngsters completed their Duke of Edinburgh award through LC. Four youngsters completed their NI EPIC Award for volunteering at least 50 hours of community service. LC taught the basic bicycle maintenance class to boys from St Joseph’s School and men from the local Triax Men’s club. They’ve also hosted bike doctor repair sessions throughout the council area. The group has trained led ride leaders, led a confident cycling class for older people, and led the course “ditch the stabilizers”. They completed 14 led rides for various groups around the Council, including a haunted cycle for Halloween, a Tour de Foyle ride, and a Christmas ride
LC has proven itself as financially sustainable and has progressed to being able to pay its managing director, Monica, a regular monthly wage! LC has separated its finances from Zero Waste Northwest as it has “flown the nest.” LC donated £1000 donation as a thank you for all that ZWNW has done for them over the past five years. Life Cycles wishes to remain a committed partner of ZWNW and provide whatever assistance it may in both the near and distant future.
Other News
Congratulations to Caroline and all the volunteers at Repair and Share Foyle who have successfully opened the Library of Things and continue to host Repair Cafe.
Artitude
ZWNW is partnering with the Playhouse, Northern Ireland Resources Network, DSDC and Queens University Belfast on Phase 2 of the Artitude project. In September we launched a major output of Phase 1- the short animated film, Story of Zero Waste North West. In Phase 2 we will be advising on a climate arts festival and artist residencies. Look to the Playhouse’s social media feeds to keep posted on associated events. Also in the coming year ZWNW will be dedicating our partnership funding from Artitude to Participatory Budgeting, so stay tuned for that.
Nappy Library
4 Cloth Nappy kits (out of 9) are currently out and being used: 1 x Newborn kit and 3 x Birth to Potty kits.
Ethical Weigh Cooperative have arranged for the Men’s shed in Eglinton to build a purpose-built box to store 2 kits. It means that we can use EWC as a drop off and collection point 2 of the kits.
The Hive borrowed a kit for a demo – Maeve talked them through the kit beforehand so they can point people in our direction in future with the right info.
Maeve has now rearranged the 5 kits she has at home so that they are more evenly distributed where items were missing and all have the right accessories needed. She has taken fresh photos and typed up inventories to match.
Besides Maeve there are 3 other nappy library designated volunteers who are each taking responsibility to look after one kit each and be a touchpoint for any questions the user of that kit may have. They are Helen, Margaret and Ruth. Space for kits is still an issue. Maeve currently has 5 kits at her house and other bags of donated nappies.
If the kits were out and being used this would be less of an issue but there are currently not enough people working on the nappy library to drive this forward. Although we have volunteers to wash some of the kits ( which is wonderful and a big job in itself ) we don’t have a dedicated Nappy library team that meets regularly. Maeve welcomes another person to come forward and lead on this.
North West BAPS
The parent-led group North West BAPS (Breastfeeding and Perinatal Support) have had a great year!
This group which was initially nurtured at the ZWNW Hub on Spencer Road during 2023 has gone from strength to strength with their aim to increase awareness, visibility and support for breastfeeding in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area. This Council area has notoriously held the record for having the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world for the past 30 years.
North West BAPS has a Core Team of 6 volunteers – Sarah, Joanie, Jessica, Noella, Sinead and Maria. They have established a Network consisting of 35 parents, advocates and representatives from community, voluntary and statutory organisations who are passionate about supporting mothers who want to breastfeed. The North West BAPS Network is supported by the Council, and provides an opportunity to hear what everyone is doing, and discuss how we can work together. In the past year, 2 Network meetings were held – in Jan and June 2024 – co-chaired by Dr. Maria Herron and Councillor Sandra Duffy.
In Feb 2024, the North West BAPS hosted Breastfeeding in Public Day on 22 Feb 2024 at the Guildhall. Special guest and author Graine Evans read her poem ‘Nursing in Public.
The North West BAPS hosted a Global Big Latch On event in collaboration with the Central Library in Derry in April 2024, and we had special guest Maeve Leahy from Music Kin singing a special rendition of ‘What’s Milk Got to Do With It’ supported by backing singers from ZWNW!
Sinead O’Kane from North West BAPS designed a Vibrant New Banner which was launched at Free Derry Corner ahead of World Breastfeeding Week 2024 celebrations in Derry.
North West BAPS had their annual celebration of World Breastfeeding Week in St.Columb’s Park House in August 2024, which was attended by almost 200 participants and 26 organisations hosted stands at the event – many of whom are involved in the North West BAPS Network.
North West BAPS have attended a number of events during the year including the Women in the Community Open Day in VOID Art Gallery, and the International Women’s Day event organised by Derry Women’s Centre. These events are great for networking & hearing directly from mothers – and grandmothers about their own experiences of breastfeeding & their ideas about how to improve breastfeeding support locally.
NWBAPS – Upcoming events:
North West BAPS continues to host the North West BAPS Walking Group on Monday mornings at 10am along the Quay from Sainsburys to the City Hotel. This Walking Group which was established by Dr. Noella Gormley, also meets in Brooke Park over the summer for the convenience of families who have older children with them. The North West BAPS Christmas Lunch will take place on Mon 2 Dec 2024 in the City Hotel who have welcomed and supported the North West BAPS Walking Group throughout the year.
North West BAPS are currently working on 3 exciting new projects! They recently received some funding from the Keadue Foundation to develop a Breastfeeding Support Kit and a website. They are also working on a collaboration with the NI Science Festival and the Council to host a special event on Breastfeeding in Public Day on 22 Feb 2025. North West Baps are also just about to launch a massive BIG Project in the City which will be a first for Northern Ireland – in collaboration with Surestart Edenballymore and some funding from The Honourable The Irish Society. For more updates, follow North West BAPS on Facebook and Instagram.
Thank You
Thank you so much for reading this far, and for being an active supporter. All present at the AGM were blown away by how much good work we’ve done in the past 12 months and were delighted to follow the AGM with a little social event.
Finally a reminder that membership fees for the coming year were set at £5. You can contribute here.
