Sheffield Homes Live Project

Inter-Studio Presentation tomorrow

2008-11-05T16:24:00.005Z

Just a quick note to inform you all that tomorrow (6th November) shall be the day that we present our proposed solutions to the waste management problems of flatted estates within Sheffield, typical of Sheffield Homes' stock. The 6th November is also my birthday as EVERYBODY in the group knows after this week!!

Our presentation in the morning will display all our solutions from the High-Tech...

...to the Low-Tech

Waste Paper

2008-11-04T18:05:00.006Z

As we proceed with our chosen ideas, let's not forget those that didn't make the cut:

Whilst branding/imagery will more than likely play a large role when introducing a new system into any existing estate, our proposals have become a little more technical, attacking the infrastructure itself. But playful ideas regarding branding may resurface within a number of our suggested intiatives...

News from the Front

2008-11-03T16:35:00.004Z

This afternoon I once again had the opportunity to speak with the team leaders of the Sheffield Home's Estates Officers (East City). I found it quite nice to see familiar faces again, some of whom I had work shadowed a couple of weeks ago. All were very positive to have me around, eager to hear how our project was going, though there was natural sceptical undertone felt regarding what we could actually achieve.

That aside, the most important element of this visit was to acquire their collective feedback on several ideas that we have been developing in small groups. Shifting my focus from the problems they deal with on a daily basis to feasibility of potential solutions was indeed refreshing approach. All ideas presented were well received regardless of whether they were too high-tech, costly or generally off-the-wall. I think they were just encouraged that an outside party, such as ourselves, were eager to address their troubles.

Without jabbering on and on about the experience, below are the main points to come out of the meeting, some of which should apply to the majority of our initiatives:

The current system offers virtually no solid way of enforcing fly-tipping laws... The reason? The act itself must be witnessed for any report to have any substantial weight behind it... The subsequent outcome? No one is afraid to fly-tip - end of story...
The point above also means that numbering bags or any other method of waste tracking would likely require a lot of planning, all party consideration and validity in the courts.
Offering responsibility / shared ownership / access to the bin stores for tenants is considered out of the question. However such an idea is not impossible that if an advanced code/lock system were used instead of a simply lock and key.
Fly-tipping will be collected by Estate Officers up to the external areas and the bottom of stair cores. Any other waste e.g. 3rd Floor landing, would have to be reported before collection would happen.
Any mechanism for larger hopper heads must comply with health and safety codes, no exceptions there (even if the usage was controlled by lock & key).
They liked the idea of creating a system which could reward those disposed of waste appropriately and penalised those who severely transgressed i.e. An Estate Officer marked rating system, which could be integrated into a responsive feedback loop.
They agreed that they could not be a single perfect solution to all of the problems considered so far. They were encouraged that several of our ideas merged together could offer an optimum solution that would, on the whole, make their jobs easier.

This city is a Factory.

2008-10-30T10:11:00.011Z

Some reflections on role / scope / outcome:

2 Economies

It is odd that we see the disposal of waste as a single topic or problem - which can be contracted to a single organisation, or designed as just one system. We would never try to impose the same level of organisational simplicity on, for example, supply. How we supply ourselves, with what, from where, and how often has become a matter of societal expertise. We are good at it - in fact we are probably too good at it: Shopping has subsumed leisure, culture, public space... But the complexities of supply are understood as market complexities, where demand, desire, brand, lifestyle, logistics and ethics compete. The final destination of the consumption pattern is the house. Beyond the house - suppliers lose interest. The house, after the individual, is simply a secondary unit of consumption.

Class-Issue

We don't (yet) see waste in the same way. We don't yet see houses as commercial units for the production of valuable 'waste'. The big difference is that over the last century, the central mantra of supply has been choice. The ability to choose between products not just in and of themselves, but increasingly for the 'ethical' choices they represent: "Fair trade", "Organic", "Local" (For more thinking on this, look at the Food Map Live Project here). The first, and most obvious thing to point out about these is that this kind of choice is made according to moral value systems, and those value systems belong almost exclusively to the upper / middle class. They are (at times meaningless) Cameronisms which represent a green chic gloss over the core reality: That these choices are luxury products, completely inaccessible and value-less for somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the population. The same can be said of the 'choices' introduced to the waste market. As unpalatable as it may seem, "recycling" and its moralisation has become a think-lite moral luxury, assuaging the guilt of the relatively well-off, but of little or no concern to everyone else. It is a Jamie Oliver / Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall middle class phenomenon.

Value

As Tom pointed out to me, the difference is value. We don't mind travelling to the shops under our own steam, because we desire what we want to buy there, and we see where we travel to as an act of choice. We do mind travelling to the recycling bank under our own steam because we value significantly less the end result. Perhaps not surprising, it might be argued, since our televisions are full of adverts which cause us to overestimate the value that a bought product will be to us, but very few adverts (but still some) which cause us to overestimate the value that a disposed product will be to us.

Trickle-Down Waste Economics?

What is missing is the passing-down of economic value in the waste economy. It is probably unfair of us to expect everyone in society to behave as workers in the municipal waste factory until we are rewarded with some kind of "wage" (which may or may not be monetary) for doing so. Those trained to be (painfully) aware of the environmental sinfulness of landfill waste could be said to be showing some kind of altruism, but even they (we) are recovering some kind of 'feel good' / 'guilt-ease' value from the act.

As an interesting aside, a recent article in New Scientist estimated that in the event of total societal breakdown, cities contain only about 3 days worth of food at any given time. It would be interesting to know an equivalent statistic for waste. How many days worth of waste is in a city at any moment?

The Top Trump Solution

So how, as a strategic design project do you design waste? What is our value?Even focusing specifically on waste disposal in flatted estates - about 6% of the dwellings in Sheffield - is not necessarily any less absurd than trying to conceive of a total system for the supply of everything to those same flats. Unsurprisingly, there is no single, clear solution - we have to hit the right balance of being bold enough to take on the issue and try to offer something new to the conversation, but no so arrogant as to think we can think of a total solution which somehow Sheffield Homes - who are grappling with this problem all the time - have not thought of. Nonetheless, what we can do is cast new light on the question - test out a set of ideas, principles, and specific practical proposals. None of these proposals are a 'solution' - but they are what we have been calling 'top trump' solutions. Gains in one aspect of performance are offset against costs in others. You can't turn any one reality off:

Politics

Finance

Psychology / Beahvoir

Labour

Ecology

Lifestyle

....

A problem that can be endlessly redefined can be endlessly half-solved, so part of our value is to identify key points of engagement - reasons to focus on one area and not another - to prod at the loopholes.

It occurred to us that from our own perspective, one of the most compelling aspects of the project is simply understanding (and making understandable) the system as it is. We can, for example, now tell you (roughly) what your bin is worth (we're not going to tell you yet - tune in next week). We've also realized the extent to which our taking-on of this problem as a 5-week topic is a form of exchange (we hope about 50-50..) We contribute ideas, but in return, take on a new awareness of the problems which could be eased / exacerbated by the design of buildings.

A Lesson

Waste disposal is simply not seen as an architectural problem - certainly not a glamorous one. 'The bins' are either neglected until the 11th hour of the design process, or at best swept under the carpet as a design issue. As Tom pointed out, the 50's, 60's & 70's has offered some exceptions to this generalisation, in that chutes were clearly thought of as an integral function of high-rise dwelling. But society has moved on - the monolithic 'black bag' mindset has left us with fixed, permanent artefacts which struggle to cope with the oncoming complexity of 'after-the-house' market logistics. We (as architects) need to stop seeing bins as isolated objects, but as interfaces in a bigger, complicated economic / political / cultural system. We need to be wary of making bins into foreground objects, and even warier of making waste disposal a moral tax (on time/money/intellect / self-respect). But, perhaps paradoxically, in order to liberate building users, professionals need to make waste disposal an integral part of normal design thinking. Designing those systems/services well might have as great (or greater) an impact upon quality of life as will the thoughful design of the formal / aesthetic / three-dimensional properties of dwellings.

Just stumbled upon...

2008-10-28T22:27:00.002Z

I have just accidentally stumbled upon a very interesting blog discussing many of the issues we are concerned with, and from some personal viewpoints.

Have a look: Chute the Messenger

Cartoon

2008-10-28T20:15:00.001Z

New and improved?

2008-10-28T11:09:00.004Z

Will retrofitting or replacing the existing chutes to encourage recycling solve the existing problems facing the waste disposal system?

No! While cleaning mechanisms can be installed to improve the chute hopper area, most problems will remain. Some tenants will still choose to throw their rubbish off of the decks and bin bags will still be too large for the chutes. It seems recycling and waste management have to be tackled through different means.

Where the existing chute fails.

2008-10-28T10:34:00.004Z

Bridging the Grey

2008-10-23T15:28:00.004+01:00

Below I draw upon ideas expressed by James's Ownership of 'waste' post and Al's developing concept of a integrated waste receptacle door.

The current situation (external landing flatted estates):
Issues to re-cap

Fly-Tipping is frequent and predictable occurance but essentially uncontrolled, thus Estate officers are forced to check all landings and stair cores.
The chutes are inadaquate to deal with large bags and hopper heads are even smaller for child safety concerns.
There is a notional 'no-mans land' between the tenants defensible space and the lacking waste disposal infrastructure.

A potential future? (external landing flatted estates):

System interventions

Tenants no longer have ownership of the chutes, they are now only accessible for Estate Officers. This removes the need for hopper heads and allows for larger openings, hence bigger bags can be thrown inside. In addition, the chutes themselves could be flexible to receive a variety of wastes (e.g. General waste, glass, cans and paper) providing the correct paladin bin is appropriately positioned below.
The waste disposal grey area / 'no-mans land' is neutralised through the usage of a {integrated waste receptacle door} and thus becomes part of the fixed boundary between private and public space.

Though interesting in principle, and as an concept which utilises a variety of the ideas discussed earlier in the group arena, it doesn't really achieve all the hits on the linked diagram I posted earlier. The costing alone of such a scheme would perhaps be enough reason to scrap the whole thing anyway!

Learning from the Heroes

2008-10-23T12:16:00.012+01:00

Since yesterday’s work shadow with the Estate Officers, I have been trying to reflect upon our approach to evaluating ideas. Currently it seems we are striving to attack this dilemma of a brief from both multiple human perspectives/agendas and physical design constraints. We are probably all too familiar with the suggested notion of design as like balancing many spinning plates all at once (image below probably best defines the group work example).

More and more I am thinking that in order to achieve a *gasp* {plausible design solution for the problems associated with waste disposal and management in flatted council estates} will require perfect plate balance. In diagram form it could be reflected in the following image:

It is my belief that for the design to be both practically and delightfully successful, the links in this diagram cannot be broken... Or can they? Regardless, I still think by accessing the above criteria, it will be an interesting excerise to rate our developing ideas.

Meet The Real Heroes...

2008-10-22T21:22:00.024+01:00

Early this morning I had the pleasure to shadow-work alongside an efficient team of Estate Officers working for Sheffield Homes. Not long after the crack of dawn, we set out on a routine patrol of around a dozen estates (see bottom of post for full list)...
The team's goals were fairly straightforward; check every estate block for instances of Fly-Tipping, properly dispose of it and 'Litter-Pick' all dumped litter around the communal landscape areas. Despite my fairly rounded expectations, I was still shocked at how widespread the problems of Fly-Tipping really were in flatted council estates - and more importantly, the extra effort these guys are required to put in to tackle it.

OK, so lets break the main issue down a little, importantly drawing from discussions with the Estate Officers themselves...

First of all, seen from the tenant's perspective:

The vertical chute system is out-of-date and doesn't have the necessary capacity needed to cope with modern black bin culture.
Tenants have little or no alternative but to leave their rubbish outside bin rooms / landings for collection.
A small portion of tenants from ethnic minorities may not consider Fly-Tipping to be an offense.

And now the role of the Bin Collector's (Veolia ES Sheffield) actively pursued work-to-rule policy:

All loose bin bags (outside of typical bins / 'paladins') will NOT be collected or handled.
Overloaded bins will be off-loaded on site until acceptable full capacity is achieved AKA If the bin is beyond full, the excess will be removed and subsequently left behind.
If the bin room door is blocked (and blocked can simply mean just a couple of black bin bags up against the door) then the collectors can refuse to move the waste and thus not proceed with the collection.
If the roads are inadequately sized or blocked by parked cars, then collectors can refuse to attempt collection to that block i.e. They cannot maneuver their truck close enough to the site for convenience.

So what sort of situations does this leave us with? Well it leaves an ever-shifting grey area of waste management for these Estate Officers to monitor and deal with routinely three times a week. Currently they bridge a vital gap in a system with a shockingly out-of-date waste disposal infrastructure and a privatised collection service that refuses to take any extra initiative.

Below are some of the situations I frequently observed on our patrol:

Large items such as televisions, sofas, cupboards and mattresses could be found anywhere from right on the doorstep of the prior owner to the middle of a block's courtyard area. These items would be removed and loaded onto our truck - then taken to the nearest dump and ultimately bound for landfill.

The images above summarise the typical locations for Fly-Tipping in flatted estates i.e. Outside the bin rooms and at the bottom of the internal stair cores (note the small chute above waste pile).

Around 9/10 of the blocks I toured had a greater quantity of Fly-Tipping than the amount of waste found inside the huge paladin bins (see typical example above). In most cases the dumped waste will be properly disposed of by the Estate Officers into the paladin bins. However larger items will always be taken back to the truck where capacity is always limited.

Above you see a typical situation where the chute has become blocked by two carrier bags wedged against each other. The above right image shows the 'Dry Store', which is basically an additional communal bin store which the tenants can access to dump larger items - these items are collected by the Estate Officers and loaded onto the truck. I was told that these guys will often go out of their way to assist anyone moving large waste out of their flat to speed up the process and keep waste levels in these stores down to a minimum.

It was a truly an eye opening experience following these guys around and witnessing first hand the extent of the waste management problems they face on a daily basis. I was definitely impressed by how eager they were to tell me of their experiences and thoughts on the causes of problems. It is very clear they are caught in the middle of a problematic system, again whereby a modern collection service meets head on with a out-of-date waste disposal infrastructure. In my opinion these guys could be accurately representative of being both our client and end-user - our proposals should seek to make their jobs less of a strain whilst more manageable and rewarding.

Estates / Flatted Blocks Visited:

Margate Estate
Lopham Street
Verdon Estate
Burngreave Estate
Earldom Drive
Earldom Road
Spital Street
Brunswick Road
Pinford Lane
Nottingham Street
Nottingham Cliff
Andover Street
Killton Road
Montford Estate

Why Hide Fly-Tipping? Why Not Add Interest?

2008-10-21T23:00:00.006+01:00

What about OUR 'Black Bag Culture' ?

2008-10-21T22:06:00.011+01:00

As a side project, the group have also been thinking about the way we handle our own waste in the Artstower.

Without speaking for the various other departments within the building (although I suspect the same applies) it is quite obvious that the architecture department has a very well developed 'black bin culture' ... or rather a series of large mini-skips in which students are left to 'fly-tip' to their hearts content.

Is our own recycling system (if in existance?) actually working? Are we all being hypocrites?

Maybe we need to look at our own 'default' before re-designing everyone elses.

Experiment PHASE ONE - Un-Enforced Waste 'Donation'

This collection approach mimics the supermarket car park collection.

The collection points are located in one central location (beside the main door on floor 17) and require students to make a small effort to remember that the bins are there AND to walk across and deposit their collectables rather than just dump them in the skip bins.

The collection bins have been in location for almost a week now and there seem to be mixed results.

It appears from the contents of the collection bins that a small selection of students need very little prompting to use the bins.

However, a quick scout around the studio highlights the fact that people are still throwing everything into one bin.

...apparently blue is the new black!

Cardboard, plastic, paper...all of which can be recycled....simply by walking over to our 'recycling centre'.

.....STAGE TWO coming soon!

Where does it all go?

2008-10-21T10:40:00.009+01:00

These diagrams explain visually how our waste is processed in Sheffield, looking in particular at Sheffield Homes' stock. They show not only the path of the stuff we throw away, but also the flow of money between tenants, local authorities, companies and non-for-profit organisations, revealing their functions and interests. They're compiled from a wide-range of sources, and hold some quite unexpected twists and surprises.

We're looking at ways to publish these files in large format so visitors can spot mistakes, or information which is missing. If you'd like to comment or ask us to email them to you, please let us know below by clicking on 'comment'.

Diagram 1 / This is the 'default' for many homes in Sheffield who have a black bin and a blue bin. Apart from these blue bins, recycling doesn't really appear on the radar - but note that Veolia are recovering steel and energy even from the black bags via the incinerator (ERF).

Diagram 2 / This is a minority 'best case' scenario in Sheffield. It illustrates a rare condition where a tenant has a black bin, a blue bin, a green bin. But note that in order to get the left over black bag waste down to a minimum, you need (in most cases) to have a car and the motivation and storage space to collect and take your plastic, metal, textiles and glass in separate containers.

Diagram 3 / By contrast, this is the default in flatted estates in Sheffield. Everything goes in the black bag.

Diagram 4 / Many of the pilot projects which have looked at introducing recycling to flatted estates have used this method; nationally it is the norm. It fits the 'recycling as an added-extra' model: placing big supermarket-style recycling tubs in the grounds of estates. The problem is that it relies upon the motivation (and, again, the storage space in flats) to collect waste, carry it out, and sort it into the bins. It asks for a high price in users' time. In areas where people are motivated to recycle (notably the better-off parts of London), it has worked ok, but everywhere else, understandably, it is dramatically underused. We would suggest that just using publicity campaigns to persuade people to take more effort and use these facilities is a hard-work way to make an impact on this stalemate- and probably one which is doomed to failure. We have to look for alternative systems that make recycling and responsible waste disposal compulsory and easier. In other words: the default.

There are lots of people trying to do this, and there are no obvious or straightforward solutions. It's proving extremely tough (but interesting) as a design challenge. In order to do it, we've been getting beyond the issue of 'recycling' and zooming-in to look in detail at how waste disposal on Sheffield's flatted estates is, or isn't working...

Fly tipping

2008-10-20T22:19:00.001+01:00

The quality isn't very good but I couldn't resist...

Bring Back Metal Dustbins!

2008-10-20T21:42:00.000+01:00

Well, somebody seems to think so...

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=220242

EUREKA!

2008-10-20T21:40:00.009+01:00

I mentioned my visit to Eureka a couple of meetings ago, here are a couple of images showing the only recycling intervention they had on display within the museum.

The container has three slots on each side, labelled 'Glass', 'Aluminium' and 'Paper'. The children are encouraged to take these plastic 'chips' which have different images of waste products printed on them such as a small group of empty bottles. If the children deposit these chips in the appropriate slot then a noise, typical of that product falling into a container, sounds (such as a glass bottle smashing). If incorrect, a buzzer sounds followed by a voice explaining that this product does not belong in that particular container.

Eureka - the Museum for Children

Back to the Drawing Board

2008-10-20T13:26:00.001+01:00

Hello Team,

To update everyone about a rather revealing meeting this morning with Sheffield Homes, we have a bit of re-thinking to do. Which is good.

Looking, the way we have been, at the system of waste disposal on two different scales: one as the whole system, the other being waste at the point of disposal is shaping up to be a useful communication tool.

There were a number of important issues raised, firstly we cannot feasibly run a trail test of cardboard chutes. Health and safety is a major issue with this one, the material has to be costed, tested and vandal proof. This type of idea can remain as proposals, but they will require some serious thought.

In response to the idea of smaller colour coded bin bags: they have trailed the idea of using small bags in the past but it was deemed as being more expensive. There is also a health and safety issue involved in the handling of plastic bags and even though housing estates officers do currently carry out this role it should not be part of a long-term solution, there should be a move towards automation.

The idea of an event held on a specific estate is a possibility but the aims and outcomes should be clearly beneficial to the long term goals.

That is the emphasis here, our work needs to reflect serious and practical thinking as well as more blue-sky concepts.

Dow Jones + Arup Study for London

2008-10-20T11:47:00.002+01:00

Rubbish In - Resources Out: Design ideas for waste facilities in London is a report by Dow Jones Architects and Arup’s alternative waste technology specialists.

They developed four design scenarios which examine different types of treatment technology, scale and location, and anurban proposal for each scenario. These range from a large scale, multi-borough facility on the fringe of the city, to a small scale, local facility on a restricted inner city site.

The report is available on http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/waste/docs/waste-design.pdf

Maximise input/Minimise appearence

2008-10-20T11:22:00.003+01:00

Waste management strategy in The Netherlands. Subterranean containers allow for large capacity street waste disposal with minimal appearance at street level. With this strategy it becomes easier to separate different types of waste. I envisage such an approach has potential to increase the water table.

Stocking up!

2008-10-20T09:55:00.007+01:00

Having decided to concentrate on devising an effective waste management strategy for Sheffield Homes we were presented a comprehensive brief focusing on recycling in Sheffield Homes’ tenement housing stock. Sheffield Homes’ brief highlights the extent of current recycling/waste management issues defining the housing typologies we are encouraged to investigate (with existing examples), these include:

1. Deck access flats & maisonettes with communal rubbish chutes/Greenland Estate, Darnall & Busk Meadows

Greenland estate is situated adjacent a busy dual carriageway and contains three-storey blocks of single-storey flats. Ground floor flats are provided a traditional black bin as well as a blue bin. The subsequent flats above rely on chutes with no distinction between domestic and recyclable waste. Although there is no visible recycling provision for individual flats it is possible they are provided with baskets inside their flats for paper and card.

The blocks of Greenland estate enclose a large communal green/play area. In this communal zone there is a recycling bank with bins for glass and cans these appear to be intermittently used.

Busk Meadows is almost identical to Greenland however is in desperate need to renovation, chutes are blocked, doors and windows to communal staircores are burnt, rusty or just none existent. Despite having greater variation of recycling options than Greenland fly tipping is far greater at Busk Meadows with amenity space adjacent bin stores covered with litter.

2. Multi-storey blocks with individual bin chutes/Leverton Towers, Hanover Way

Traditionally, Sheffield’s multi-storey tower blocks were designed with chutes running through balconies of individual flats. This became problematic as maintenance workers found it difficult to access certain flats to clear blockages. As a result usage of these chutes has been discouraged (as the council cannot block the chutes) in favour of using large bins provided outside the towers. Maintenance workers encounter fly tipping in corridors or around the estate and essentially it is perceived residents contribute very little to recycling banks rather the maintenance workers take it upon themselves to separate recycling from domestic waste.

The renovated tower blocks at Netherthorpe are of the same typology as Leverton but the re-cladding of these blocks has incorporated balconies to provide additional area for the flats as a result the original chutes are now inside these flats. We aim to take a look around one of these flats sometime this week to discover what alternatives are provided and how the existing chutes are concealed.

Sheffield Homes Interview

2008-10-17T19:52:00.004+01:00

*Beep…beep…beep…beep…beeeeeep*

"This is Friday 17th October and these are the headlines from our meeting with Zoe Barlow and Ian Robertson at Sheffield Homes":

Fly-tipping is the most significant problem on flatted estates and puts the greatest strain on Sheffield Homes’ resources.
The perceived solution to fly-tipping is an upgrade to infrastructure. The current system was designed in the 1950s/60s before ‘black bin’ culture arrived.
The majority of tenants dispose of their waste in an appropriate manner, only a minority do not. In a recent survey over 60% of Sheffield Home tenants expressed a desire for recycling facilities.
Recycling is not just a ‘nice’ idea, but regarded as having the potential to relieve strain on black bin waste and thus improve the efficiency of the system.

Differences and disparities in building types and waste disposal provision mean the system is complex and not easily comprehended (Refer to the rough diagram above, which Zoe and Ian gladly helped us create!).
Finally, one idea that Zoe had was to introduce a scheme whereby children on the estates assist elderly residents in disposing of their waste. This would help tenants for whom mobility was a problem, but children could also act as ‘educators’ and ‘enforcers’.

[A full summary of the interview (Compiled Q&A) will be posted earlier next week on archstud, we recommend all members give it atleast quick read]

Ownership of 'waste'

2008-10-16T19:04:00.025+01:00

With reference to the brief issued by Sheffield Homes, the majority of problems on the flatted estates derive from inappropriate use of the system by residents. The present system relies on 'good will' and the 'moral obligation' of tenants to dispose of their waste in an appropriate manner. But... what if residents had something to gain from ensuring waste was disposed in an appropriate manner? How can the 'default' be changed? An interesting issue to consider is the 'ownership' of the waste.

The system is complex and we are yet to fully understand it, however, it seems reasonable to assume that a fair amount of money is spent by the council on 'cleaning-up' after residents and by Veolia in sorting and separating collected waste. If the tenants took a more active role in sorting and properly disposing of waste then there is a potential cost saving somewhere. If this saving can be passed onto the tenants then hey presto there's the incentive! This could work by offering the tenants [dis]integrated waste management contracts, direct agreements between the tenants and Veolia. Sheffield housing would relinquish 'ownership' of the waste and instead tenants would 'own' the waste up until the point that Veolia collects.

The disposal and storage of waste on the estates would need to be designed.

Open Source / Collective Intelligence

2008-10-15T23:30:00.003+01:00

See-through recycling bins in Tokyo exploining collective intelligence of passersby (in this intance to increase security in underground station... but perhaps the same principle could be adapted/pushed to 'change the default' in waste production/disposal)

From "Open Source Garbage" - post from John Maeda's blog Law of Simplicity http://lawsofsimplicity.com/2006/11/11/open-source-garbage/

Progress (aka A Nice Diagram)

2008-10-15T22:21:00.005+01:00

Well... welcome to Week 3. This is how our project is looking at the moment: brief, timetable et al. In one sentence, the Sheffield Homes Project is looking for a new (default) system of waste disposal (which improves on the current one). Having met through the last few weeks as a full team, worked through forming a brief with our clients, and researched types of waste management and recycling systems individually, the Sheffield Homes team has now split into several action groups, working towards different but complimentary objectives:

1. Current Housing Stock Research

2. System Research

3. Client Liasion and Diagrams, and,

4. Field Action

Exciting indeed, some promising results in the offing...

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY?

2008-10-15T22:02:00.004+01:00

Lets bring Art Attack to Lansdown!....well not art so much as rubbish.

We could choose an area in one of the courtyards...(preferably a flat area which can be seen well from one of the balconies)...and encourage residents to bring down their rubbish to help complete our picture (I'm thinking we go for something simple like the recycling symbol).

As we sort the rubbish, we could use all recyclable objects to create the picture to communicate just how much of the resident's waste could actually be re-used.

We could bring 'delight' to the act of sorting and recycling....whilst also providing ourselves with the opportunity to ask the residents questions about their waste system and also their views on recycling.

It might also be worth asking the resident's who 'donate' which part of Lansdowne they come from...we could then map out the 'flow' of the rubbish....this information could then be fed into our larger waste diagram which will then be passed onto Sheffield Homes.

We would obviously recycle all materials at the end of the day ^_^

Default Architectures Contd.

2008-10-15T20:33:00.001+01:00

"The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that creates the situation." Albert Einstein.

Packaging = Waste

2008-10-15T16:00:00.003+01:00

A substantial amount of the waste we throw away is packaging. In fact, according to the government, 18% of the contents of your bin is packaging from purchases. A 2007 survey from the research company Ipsos Mori revealed that, 62%of customers want to see less packaging on their products and 67% want more recyclable materials used for packaging.

Parallel to this is the Coutauld Commitment, which a voluntary agreement between WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and major UK grocery organisations to support a reduction in the packaging of their products. Specifically the goal is to deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010. Included in this agreement are Asda, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

Energy Recovery Facility - Sheffield

2008-10-14T17:01:00.003+01:00

Following neatly on from my earlier video post on the processes/systems involved with typical Energy Recovery Facilities managed by Veolia (the example was based in Hampshire)... Please click the link below for a little flash slide show on our very own Energy Recovery Facility - its only two years old for those of us who didn't know!

Sheffield - ERF

Default Architectures

2008-10-14T13:08:00.011+01:00

Default –noun

1.	failure to act; inaction or neglect.

3.	Law. failure to perform an act or obligation legally required, esp. to appear in court or to plead at a time assigned.

Computers. a value that a program or operating system assumes, or a course of action that a program or operating system will take, when the user or programmer specifies no overriding value or action.

Design is always political...
...even if we're not always aware of it. Even something as mundane a door schedule contains all sorts of political decisions about privacy, ownership, exclusion, status, behavior. At the same time though, design is not the same as politics. As Buckminster Fuller argued - 'Redesign the environment, don't redesign people.' There are a number of instances where 'political' tactics (e.g-advertising) are used to alter behavior as a substitute for changing the system. Politicians tell us not to fly on holiday - a designer might instead develop a zero-carbon means of intercontinental transport.

The 'Recycling' Myth
'Recycling' too falls into this trap. The conventional wisdom is that we need to use advertising campaigns and incentives to persuade people to recycle. But that may well be because we see recycling as something 'extra' we expect people to do above and beyond getting rid of their waste. Hardly anyone needs an incentive to get rid of the waste - we just want rid of it. 'Recycling' is only seen as a separate, extra activity if it requires more time, more effort or more money on the part of the consumer. That's not a political problem - that's a design problem. We haven't integrated 'Recycling' into the the design of waste disposal system, so it takes political persuasion to make up for the shortfall in design.

'Choice Architecture'
A book I'm reading at the moment (which I would recommend to everyone), 'Nudge' by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein looks in detail at the design of the environments in which we make decisions. Skirting sensitively on the edges of social engineering (what it refers to as 'Libertarian Paternalism'), its basic premise is that there is always a 'choice architecture', whether we choose to design it or not . Businesses use choice architecture to exploit us ("Would you like to supersize that?"), so why shouldn't we use choice architectures to bring about more socially-beneficial outcomes? The 'default' option is the one that people conform to when they don't think about it, so if you want people to behave in ways which are better for the health, the environment or society, don't try to persuade them to put effort into doing it, but try to design the system until the 'correct' course of action is the default - the easiest.

A good example I heard about recently has been pioneered by Gateshead council, who rather than spending money on advertising campaigns persuading people to lower their salt intake, supplied local take-aways and fish & chip shops with re-designed salt shakers, with 5 rather than the usual 17 holes. This works because we don't gauge the amount of salt we take on the plate with our eyes, we just habitually give it 2 or 3 shakes. By and large no-one notices that the chips are any less salty. The important thing is that the salt shakers don't prevent you from eating salt, but by tuning the default downwards, improve the health-outcomes of those of us helping ourselves to salt on auto-pilot.

"Add more bins"? - Questioning 'Black Bag' thinking.
In the case of waste disposal, "recycling" is intrinsically ungenerous. We have to take the effort to handle our 'recyclable' goods in extra bins, we have to drive it to the supermarket (assuming we own a car), we have to remember to put the right bin out on the right day. When a council introduces a new recycling programme, they introduce another bin (resulting in a sort of 'bin rash'). In short: Recycling is hard work - you have to believe in it. No wonder it's almost exclusively a middle class phenomenon.

We need to see recycling not as an optional extra that relies upon ethical sacrifices, but as the default. Not as an extra on top of waste disposal, but rather an evolved, more sophisticated version of the 'Black bag: Shove it all in one bin' model, which is now outdated. If we look hard at our household 'waste', we know that most of it can be recycled, and there's not much 'black bag' (unclassifiable) stuff left at the end... so recycling is not adding waste but subdividing it.

It might turn out on the long run that we can make other improvements to the waste disposal service. Eliminating costs on our time such as having to remember to take out the bins?...or the smell of keeping them around?...or the noisy bin men at 7am on a wednesday morning?...

growing vegetables and keeping animals, some links

2008-10-14T10:16:00.004+01:00

(image from Flickr http://flickr.com/photos/hippie/2451461151/)

If we are going down the route of exploring an integrated, uber-local, waste processing and management as indicated in Sarah's latest post, then it's worth looking into PERMACULTURE.

There is a good intro to permaculture on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture.
There is also a 26 min video, the Quiet Revolution on http://www.21paradigm.com/permaculture.php

More Permaculture Links:
Permaculture Association (Britain) http://www.permaculture.org.uk/default.asp
Permaculture Institute http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/classroom/. From this website, the link to the Polyface Farms http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ where various species of grazing animals, including pigs are used to maximise soil fertility.

Looking into Urban Farming might also provide useful references & examples http://www.cityfarmer.info/. Look at the England section http://www.cityfarmer.info/category/england/

In Sheffield, Heeley City Farm http://www.heeleyfarm.org.uk/ has been active for a number of years, doing a range of interesting projects. One of the things they run is 'apprentiship'/volunteering programs for local kids to work in the farm. If you have never been there it is really worth a visit to see how kids (largely teen agers) that would normally fall into the 'difficult' category, appear competent and empowered through working in the farm.
Perhaps it is worth exploring the possibility of linking any waste management/processing intervention proposed with training programmes.

It would be interesting talking to Heeley City Farm to find out more about those training programs as well as the management of animals on urban sites. Perhaps they would be interested in running/coordinating satellites mini farms base on various estates....

It is also worth noting that Sheffield is currrently try to become a Transition Town http://www.transitionsheffield.org.uk/.

"The Transition Towns movement aims to
find positive community-based responses to climate change and the end of cheap
oil".

Tonight (14th October) there is a screening in Burngreave of the film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.

recycling ideas

2008-10-13T21:06:00.005+01:00

Some little things serious or less to show people that there can be a second life for old stuff

Symbols and Colour and Direction - Oh my!

2008-10-13T19:27:00.004+01:00

Following our visit to the Lansdowne council flat estate, I began to consider the issue of visual monotony apparent when walking between blocks. This becomes more so apparent when you notice that objects such as the typical bright blue Paper/Cardboard recycling dumpster become strong objects of the foreground (see below).
After a brief consultation with the estate waste collection workers, we learned that these bins are in fact frequently used - despite our initial suspicions.

Therefore I hypothesised a likely connection between strong colours and symbols and how our brains make connections between the two -instinctively over time. This could potentially lead to exploiting means of offering directional clues, some subtle or perhaps full on, to allow for easy navigation to a new systems/bins for recycling/waste disposal (see below).

Go on, Chute!

2008-10-13T17:51:00.002+01:00

What would a residential waste/recycle plant look like?

Is 'back to nature' the way forward?

Perhapse we could focus on the recycling tube system for the purposes of this live project
....but there is nothing to stop us drawing up a 'What If' masterplan.

Two ends of the spectrum - Preliminary thoughts

2008-10-13T10:58:00.007+01:00

Considering the cheap/economic end of the scale;

Above image shows additional chutes being added, each one disposes of a different recyclable product...

Tenants have expressed their 'fondness' of the chutes, is this the most practical, affordable solution? To what extent do we 'patch and repair' these chutes? If we re-design the current system of waste disposal will that dictate a re-design of the application also? Can the chute technology cope with a more diverse waste system?

To what extent do we take this??

Considering the expensive end of the scale, an ambitious scheme on a Master Plan Scale;

A system from Envac which employs underground chutes which use natural air to suck the deposited waste along the lines at 80kph to a large waste management centre, each recyclable product is separated at the user end and then is systematically sent to the centre.

A 'slightly' more realistic option which shows a communal location storing the waste until a truck can come and 'suck' up the rubbish, the master scheme tries to eliminate road traffic by eliminating the need for these trucks...

Perhaps our solution will be something in between the two extremes that have been highlighted here?

2008-10-10T12:43:00.000+01:00

The UK has one of the worst records for recycling within the EU, with rates of just 11% compared with Austria's 64%

Energy Recovery in Hampshire

2008-10-10T12:12:00.003+01:00

"In Hampshire, Veolia Environmental Services already operates three modern Energy Recovery Facilities: this video tells the story of how the company has managed Hampshire's waste since 1996 through recycling, composting and energy recovery and shows how its Chineham Energy Recovery Facility was developed."

Check out the informative video below:

Recycling & Energy Recovery - Fun Learning

2008-10-10T11:17:00.005+01:00

Getting the message across to school kids about the importance of recycling and energy recovery is a crucial initative. Clicking on the image below takes you to an interactive game designed by Veolia Environmental Services, who were awarded a long term waste management contract by Sheffield City Council.

"Eco-Star.com is an educational resource showing how waste management works, in a way that children enjoy and understand. Based around a virtual community, all the games are backed up with Did You Know? trivia and quizzes, together with teachers' notes and ideas for lesson plans with cross-curricular links."

Recycling and Delight

2008-10-10T08:56:00.002+01:00

More bin seats!

2008-10-10T08:55:00.002+01:00

Foreign recycling

2008-10-09T16:35:00.006+01:00

Strasbourg

Blue bin: Household wastes (in each buiding)
Yellow bin: Paper, cardboard,etc. (in each buiding)

green container: glass (in the street)

Seville

Grey bin: Household wastes (in the street)

Blue bin: paper, cardboard (in the street)

Green bin: glass (in the street)

I'm waiting for more informations for Vienna, Luxembourg, Lausanne, Brisbane, Florence and Montreuil Paris's suburbs.

But it seems to be more or less the same way of collecting garbages. But I think that in Switzerland recycling is more developed.

Organic Waste

2008-10-09T14:27:00.002+01:00

Feed The Cows

2008-10-09T14:09:00.002+01:00

Feed the cows! ....as mentioned by India one of our previous group sessions ^_^

Click the link to find out more.

http://www.feedthecows.org/

Sheffield's Answer?

2008-10-09T11:50:00.004+01:00

Good news... A new trial scheme to promote recycling.

Bad news... The bins are empty. Good news... The council must have emptied them. Bad news... No, nobody uses them. How can we encourage people to recycle? This question is pertinent to the project.

For more information see http://www.sheffieldhomes.org.uk/about-us/sheffield-homes-news/may--june-

2008/gleadless-residents-lead-the-way-in-recycling

Awareness Poster

2008-10-08T14:36:00.004+01:00

Below is a graphic I have been working on. Its based on facts and figures from government websites.
I have the full size PDF but I don't know where to host the file... any ideas?

"Receptacle for the Recyclable"

2008-10-07T22:49:00.003+01:00

"Sure, it's goofy and looks like something out of a Pixar film, but it also integrates itself with the existing trash cans (some around the Loop and other parts of the city are different - nicer - but this scheme could be modified to fit onto those, too) and proposes reusing newspapers, over just recycling, their bundled masses poking from the green orb for easy grabbing. These are a couple good ideas that set it apart from the other schemes, ones that tended to be from the ground up and lacking in a sense of humor."*

*- Image & text source found @ http://archidose.blogspot.com/

Look Out Below!... Or not?

2008-10-07T21:53:00.009+01:00

Visiting the Lansdowne council housing estate was certainly an interesting and revealing experience. In terms of understanding how waste disposal / recycling is, or isn't achieved, in a flatted council housing typology - our findings weren't surprising...

Looking at the photo above, you can probably easily guess that the painted cylinder running up the core area isn't structural. Indeed it is a refuse shoot, and these are located throughout the estate in similar locations. The problem?... Well despite the logical nature of the system, the capacity avaliable just isn't practical at all for typical general waste.

The next photo above shows a similar refuse shoot access point on one of the upper floors. As you can see, the openable tray designed for the tenant to insert refuse into the shoot is far too small for a typical black bin liner. Therefore it is very common that these access points are frequently littered with discarded bags. This in turn puts strain on the refuse collection workforce and makes the areas themselves unpleasant and certainly unhygienic. In some estates huge signs can be found warning of fines to those who dump their rubbish bags in this manner... The source of the problem has been clearly neglected...

There is most definitely scope here to tackle this problem, whether we might decide to focus on dealing with the idea of overloaded capacity, re-defining routes or the processes involved in such waste disposal or designing a new system for the tenants all together.

Bin Seats

2008-10-07T15:12:00.002+01:00

designer's own words:"...a fresh look at the tired topic of waste". What more appropriate product to target than the icon of waste - the urban garbage bin. Reusing and recycling can be a necessity or a statement, but both are driven by rethinking. A garbage bin has its own unique characteristics: it contains, it has wheels and ribs, it is stackable and thermoplastic. A chair has its own unique characteristics: it contains, it has legs, it reflects tradition and human dimensions, it is structural. We shuffled these characteristics; stretched and deformed the sides of the bin to create a seat, we sawed and bent the ribs to strengthen and emphasize forms. At times we hung on to a word or an image and melted the plastic to realize it; at times we allowed the process to take its own course. The design process reexamined the chair archetype and confronted its traditional image with the relatively inferior one of its former life as a garbage bin. On one hand is a bin - on the other, a chair.

Recycle Now

2008-10-07T13:18:00.001+01:00

www.recyclenow.com

2008-10-07T12:24:00.002+01:00

Perhaps this diagram requires a sequence??

1; Education (teaching those about recycling, how, why, etc.)

2; Efficiency (bring in automation systems should people fail to tackle the problems themselves) and the last resort...

3; Enforce (Punish people under the Environmental Health Act, section 46, etc.)

Community Composting

2008-10-07T12:05:00.000+01:00

How about a community composting scheme?

http://www.communitycompost.org/

2008-10-06T16:55:00.002+01:00

"Nearly two-thirds of all household rubish can be recycled, which saves energy and raw materials."
- The importance of waste in a nutshell, as put by the Direct Gov website, thanks Gov!

2008-10-06T15:48:00.002+01:00

144 hours later and we have a brief!! and I am online finally...

Data Visualisation & Jumpers!

2008-10-02T10:44:00.002+01:00

Fuel Poverty Advisory Group

2008-10-01T13:40:00.004+01:00

As part of BERR (Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has produced annual reports and other publications that approach the issue of fuel poverty in quite serious depth.

The role of the Group is:

To consider and report on the effectiveness of current policies in delivering reductions in fuel poverty and the case for greater co-ordination
To identify barriers to the delivery of reductions in fuel poverty and to the development of effective partnerships, and propose solutions
To consider and report on any additional policies needed to deliver the Government’s targets
To enthuse, and encourage, key players to tackle fuel poverty
To consider and report on the results of the work to monitor fuel poverty

Their latest annual report offers considerable resource/research potential and be downloaded through the below link:
Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (for England): sixth annual report 2007

Sustainable housework?

2008-10-01T13:11:00.005+01:00

How about a naturally powered sustainable rotary system for drying washing, it has a zero-carbon footprint, zero maintenance and operating costs and has an unlimited capacity (well, almost). It’s called a washing line…

Human Insulation?

2008-10-01T12:25:00.005+01:00

A more achievable solution maybe?

Knitting lessons = insulated body temperature = lower energy use in heating (space heating + biological) = possible source of income?

....two birds with one wooly stone?

My Nan used to suppliment her pension by selling knit wear...as far as I know, she always managed to pay the bills ^_^

Scientific Solution?

2008-10-01T12:22:00.001+01:00

A facinating video about a heating system which produces more energy than that which is put in!

Sustainable Environment Strategy

2008-10-01T12:12:00.001+01:00

BBC News Clips

2008-10-01T11:06:00.009+01:00

Tennants And Residents Alliance (TARA)

2008-09-30T19:07:00.003+01:00

It may be worth contacting this group once we have picked a site to study, they may have a tennants group like the ones mentioned here.

How Fuel Poverty Affects Vunerable Members of Society

2008-09-30T18:07:00.002+01:00

PM's energy efficiency package "a slap in the face" for the fuel poor

2008-09-30T17:21:00.002+01:00

" Reacting to today’s announcement by the Prime Minister of a new energy saving package, ACE has described it as falling well short of what’s needed to deliver the much-needed step change in the energy efficiency of our homes.

In particular ACE has accused the Government of failing those in greatest need of help. At least 4.5 million households still suffer from the scourge of fuel poverty – and Jenny Holland, ACE’s Parliamentary Co-ordinator, says that today’s announcement is nothing but a “slap in the face” for them.

She explained: “Earlier this year the Government defied its own official advisers and slashed £200 million from the 2008-11 budget for Warm Front, its main fuel poverty programme. The Prime Minister is misleading us by announcing a £74 million ‘increase’ in the Warm Front budget, when in fact he is not even restoring his earlier cut.“We have long argued that the Government is failing in its legal duty to eradicate fuel poverty. Today’s announcement has done nothing to change our view. We are urgently calling for the Government to set up an Inter-Ministerial Taskforce to kick-start a proper, co-ordinated approach to ending fuel poverty.”

While welcoming the new £910 million of investment by energy suppliers in more energy efficiency measures for households, ACE is calling on the Government to put its hand in its own pocket to stop our homes leaking heat through their roofs, walls and windows.

Alongside other leading charities and consumer groups, ACE recently signed a Fuel Poverty Charter, which calls for an extra £3 billion to be spent each year to make our homes as energy efficient as possible. Today’s announcement of roughly £350 million extra a year falls well short of what’s needed to bring about this much-needed step change in the energy efficiency of our homes. "

~Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE)-11 September 2008.

What is Fuel Poverty (FP)?

2008-09-30T16:41:00.000+01:00

"A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory heating regime (usually 21 degrees for the main living area, and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms). Fuel poverty is caused by the interaction of a number of factors, but three specifically stand out.

These are;

The energy efficiency status of the property.

The cost of energy.

Household income.

To tackle fuel poverty the UK Government and Devolved Administrators believe that no single measure is sufficient. The 2007 Fuel Poverty Annual Report updates progress on the range of programmes and measures that have been put in place. This includes;

Programmes to improve energy efficiency.

Maintaining the downward pressure on fuel bills, ensuring fair treatment for the less well off, and supporting industry initiatives to combat fuel poverty.

Continuing action to tackle poverty and increase incomes."

~Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR).