Wow where to start.
You will already know that LARAC is the leading voice for local authorities on recycling, waste and resource management but what you may not know is that the executive committee are all volunteers with a day job.
As I take over the role of Chair from Cathy Cook, I thought my first blog could give you an insight into my job at West Sussex County Council. Not because I don’t think you will know what a waste manager does day to day but because sometimes, we end up doing something truly out of the ordinary.
On Saturday 6th December, at sea, the Baltic Klipper lost sixteen containers overboard in the Solent. Eleven of these were carrying mainly bananas and avocados. By 1pm Sunday 7th December, the first containers had begun to wash ashore and by the end of Monday 8th December, debris had washed up at Selsey, Pagham and Bognor Regis.
Many of us know the sea can be a dangerous place, and its power should never be underestimated. In incidents like this, you are dealing with the weather as much as the tides. Many of the containers arrived smashed, ejecting their cargo leaving large amounts of fruit, metal and foam scattered along more than 35 miles of beach.
As the emergency response was being set up including dedicated waste management and segregation sites, HM Coastguard deployed aircraft to conduct offshore searches. Whilst the work was put in place for the required shoreline clean up assessment, our communities were out collecting waste.
The community response from people volunteering to support the work has been incredible, both from organised groups but also individuals who have simply seen the issues and spent time cleaning the beach.
My role has been to work with the environment specialists on the clear up, Although I have responded to emergencies before, this felt different, it had hit the West Sussex coast hard and fast. This is a multi-agency response, and I am proud of the work achieved so far, not just with local authorities but also Sussex Police, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
This is a dynamic situation that can change day to day, this time last week I was dealing with the repercussions of Storm Goretti, this caused another twenty-four containers, to fall into the sea from two cargo vessels off the Isle of Wight. While the impact has not been as serious as the first incident, it's caused more work for my local authority partners in the East Sussex area.
We have just had our 27th Tactical Co-ordinating Group meeting and whilst we are not finished, I move to navigate how we claim back our costs from the ship insurers.
