This page acts as a bulletin for all Washington Village u3a members giving tips and info re environment issues.
If there is anything you would like to see here please get in touch with William (Bill) Hird .
MONTHLY ACTIVITY SUGGESTION
Each month we suggest of one or two of activities to engage with. The current month's ideas are shown below, and previous months' suggestion are available from this page.
Environmental Activity Suggestions for January 2026.
1. Big River Watch:Environmental Activities - Suggestions for January 2025
Take part in some of Durham Wildlife Trust's activities.
2. Take part in the annual Big Garden Birdwatch. This runs from 23th–25th January 2025. The added benefit of contributing to this is that you can do this from the comfort of your own home! What do you need to do? (1) Sign up (here), (2) Choose one hour between 24 and 26 January, (3) only record the birds that land in your patch, (4) record the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time, (5) send the results in online or by post.
RESOURCES
If you are thinking of getting an air-source heat pump (ASHP) you can visit homes that already have them installed by going to Visit a heat pump and searching for homes that are nearer enough to visit. You can also filter in to homes that are similar to yours.
A good website for idea and recipes to avoid food waste is: Love Food Hate Waste.
If you are keen to know how "green" your bank is: Bank Green
If you are interested in finding suggestions for "green" holidays and travel try Green Traveller.
If you are keen to know how "green" your holiday travel is EcoPassenger can help.
We have a specific page with information about what to recycle and where in the local area: click here
A good website for checking for where to recycle almost any item is Recycle Now. You can type in the item and give your postcode to find where to go.
SECOND NATURE NEWSLETTERS
John Baxter (the u3a Subject Adviser for Climate Change and Environment) sends out a monthly newsletter "Second Nature".
It is both very informative and entertaining: not easy to combine the two. If you would like read the newsletters, or subscribe to receive them by email, you can do so from: u3a Climate Change Network Newsletters.
Lucky Enough to live in Durham County Council? Why not use their Repair Cafés
"There are several volunteer run repair cafés in County Durham. Repair Cafés are free meeting places and they are all about fixing things together. Visitors bring their broken items from home, then together with 'fixers' they make their repairs in the Repair Café. It's a fantastic way to help the environment, prevent waste, save money and learn new skills. Current Permanent Repair Cafés in County Durham are (i) Friendly Fixers Repair Café, Fishburn Youth and Community Centre (TS21 4ED) First Saturday of the month from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. and (ii) Seaham Repair Café, St John's Church Hall, Seaham (SR7 7SA): Second Saturday of the month from 12.00pm to 4.00pm. Touring Repair Cafés work with County Durham Furniture Help Scheme who will have experts on hand to take a look at your broken electrical item to see if it can be repaired. In some instances we may need to send your item away but a lot of the time a simple fix can be done there and then and for free.
How are your banks using your money?
If you are sorting out your finances and thinking about the environment at the same time, you could check out different providers using bank.green. This was set up in late 2020 by environmentalists who started asking “Are we working to help the environment, while our own money is simultaneously destroying it?” As a result of their and others' work you can check out the extent to which banks do/do not invest in companies linked with fossil fuels extraction.
For instance their assessment for Nationwide Building Society is “Your bank is great. Your money is definitely not funding the fossil fuel industry. We can’t be sure of everything that your bank is doing, but at least your money is not enabling gas, oil, or coal extraction”. Whereas Barclays “is No. 1 in Europe for fossil fuel financing.”
Air Source Heat Pumps
A government plan to reduce household CO2 emissions by getting people to adopt Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) has had nothing like the impact hoped for so far. Even with the The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (now with a grant of £7,500) to help households switch to ASHPs from gas boilers etc. This topic of ASHPs seemed to be filled with confusion and urban myths. So "Our Environment" group has spent some time investigating and talking to a local, qualified, installer. The notes from that meeting (which include links to information about ASHPs) are available here: Air Source Heat Pumps-Some Notes
Enrich the Earth
Enrich the Earth launched on 14th September 2023. It exists to transform unavoidable green and food waste into nutrient rich compost. Its pilot project is here in the Northeast of England. To turn its manifesto into a reality its working in partnership with a range of organisations. It's using Durham County Council's composting site as the base for regional trials.
The pilot results will be independently assessed and openly shared. Video of Enrich the Earth campaign
4-8th September 2023: Zero Waste Week
"A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE WEEK... Every year, millions of people all around the world commit to reducing their [landfill] waste for a week during September - saving money, preserving resources and having fun in the process.
Zero Waste Week was founded by Rachelle Strauss in 2008. More information is available from Zero Waste Week.
Where to take your excess goods
A Reuse (Re-gift) and Recycling Page has been set up to provide some signposts for what to do with your surplus items.
BLUE BINS AND SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL
The council provide an itemised list of what can/can't go into the blue bin on its website here: Sunderland Blue Bins - in or out?. There are also two videos provided by the council (See below).
Processing of the contents of the blue bins - from collection onwards
Information about what can/can't go in the blue bin
Climate Change WHAT CAN WE DO?
Some practical ideas are given on the national u3a Climate Change website at What can we do?
Download the pdf Fridge Door Summary
20th May 2023
The committee approved the Environment Policy WVu3a and appointed Helen Edwards as the Environment Officer for Washington Village u3a.