Low Carbon Lymm 

Our next meeting is on Monday 22 February, Oughtrington Community Centre, 7.30pm.

Sandra Manning of the Energy Saving Trust is working on a project relating to car clubs.

Please see the questionnaire Lymm questionnaire v2 and return to Sandra before the middle of March via Sandra.Manning@est-northwest-mc.org.uk. (the questionnaire is read only, so you may need to paste into an email for ease) Thanks

On the 1st of February 2010 everyone should get the opportunity to recycle domestic batteries at points close to home following the introduction of new legislation.

The new law which comes from the EU’s Batteries Directive means that any outlet (even online stores) selling more than 32kg of batteries each year will have to provide points where customers can deposit batteries for recycling free of charge. Recycling points will be branded with a distinctive yellow and black battery logo.

The aim of the new obligation is to pass the responsibility of collecting and recycling batteries on to manufacturers and retailers so that the quantity of batteries sent to landfill is significantly reduced.

All batteries that are collected will be sent for recycling but because of the lack of recycling plants in the UK most will be sent overseas for treatment in the short term.

A list of recycling points in Lymm will be published shortly.

Before

After

The installation of new improved floodlighting has restored darker skies in the Lymm area, as part of the recent Leisure Centre improvements at Lymm High School.

Its former out-dated floodlighting scheme, with lamps that created a significant amount of light spillage, had caused excessive light pollution in the local area for many years and could be seen from miles around.  So much so that one local resident, keen astronomer and member of the Low Carbon Lymm group, had started a personal campaign in 2007 to see if improvements could be made. She had seen the problem progressively worsen over the years as the evening usage of the pitch increased with the Leisure Centre needs.

With school funding obtained for the construction of the new pitch, it took the involvement of Warrington Environmental Health to give one last push to ensure the lighting would be improved at the same time. The final installation of the double asymmetric horizontal cut-off lamps resulted in the lighting directed onto the pitch while the dark sky quality overhead was greatly improved. Local resident, Chris Reeves said ‘‘I am very grateful that Lymm High School obtained funding for the new lighting and delighted with the reduction in light spillage – an excellent result for the Campaign for Dark Skies. Well done!’’

The difference has been clear for all to see with the project receiving coverage on BBC TV, North West Tonight regional news last month. The new floodlighting solution has been good for the school, the students, the sporting community, the local environment, local residents and, of course, good for local astronomers too.  Everyone has gained.

Join Low Carbon Lymm for a fun, informative local event this Saturday, the 23rd, at Lymm Village Hall on Pepper Street. There’ll be stalls and information on everything from food to energy and waste to transport – activities for kids and cakes too! Come along anytime between 10am and 3pm. You can even try out the driving simulator and see how much money you could save on petrol by changing your driving habits!

Driving simulator - drive more efficiently and save money too