Zero Carbon Luton - Issue 4, 2023
Re-use pop-up, Luton in Bloom, watering street trees
I was going to leave it a couple more weeks before sending out another newsletter, but there are a couple of time sensitive items that I didn’t want you to miss. So here’s issue 4 with some summer related environmental stories from around the town.
First pop-up re-use shop
Luton in Bloom competition
Water your local street trees
Pop-up re-use shop for tidy tip
Eaton Green Tidy Tip will host Luton's first pop-up re-use shop on Saturday 1st of July.
The shop will sell pre-owned goods donated at the town's recycling centres, with homeware, toys, games and DVDs at bargain prices. All proceeds from sales will go towards local charities, raising money while reducing waste and carbon emissions.
The pop-up, which is run by Luton Council in partnership with FCC Environment, will be open from 10am to 3pm. Potential visitors might want to note that, as usual on the tidy tip, there is no pedestrian access.
Re-use is at the top of the waste hierarchy and the best thing to do with unwanted items. Along with charity shops, passing things on to friends and neighbours, or websites such as Freecycle, items can always be donated at recycling centres. To donate an item, just talk to the site operatives. Not everyone knows that things can be donated in this way, so the pop-up shop should raise awareness of re-use at recycling centres.
The pop-up shop is a first for Luton, and will be open for just one day. Other towns and cities have created more permanent shops, with Manchester's Renew Hub being perhaps the most ambitious. Luton doesn't have the size and scope to support a major project like Manchester's, but hopefully the pop-up is a sign of the re-use revolution to come.
The Eaton Green Tidy Tip is on Eaton Green Road, just round the corner from Asda. LU2 9RT.
Luton in Bloom competition
A new gardening competition is aiming to celebrate Luton’s best gardeners and inspire a greener and more beautiful town.
Residents can enter their front gardens, produce or vegetable patches into the competition, with cash prizes on offer. There are also categories for the best community garden and best school garden, celebrating the power of gardening to bring people together and build community.
The competition closes to new entries on the 31st of July. Judges will then visit a shortlist of possible sites and pick winners and runners-up in the following five categories:
Residential Front Display
The Largest Vegetable
Best Looking Fruit or Vegetable Patch
Best School Garden Project
Best Community Garden
“The competition will not only showcase stunning front gardens,” says founder Sujel Miah, “but also encourages residents to grow their own fruit and vegetables, explore innovative ideas, sustainable practices, and creative approaches to communal spaces.”
“Through these collective efforts, the hope is that in years to come Luton will be nurtured into a haven of natural beauty, promoting personal well-being, community spirit bound by kindness and togetherness, and a greener future for all.”
Got a garden to be proud of - your own or one you volunteer with?
Water a street tree near you
Street trees are an important form of climate change adaptation, as they provide shade and cooling during increasingly hot summers. They also add beauty and character to our streets, and clean the air. So we need our street trees, and we need to plant more of them!
Unfortunately, young trees are vulnerable to the same heat we hope they will protect us from. A well established tree is more resilient, but saplings can easily die during a hot and dry spell in the summer. The Woodland Trust and the Arboricultural Association have warned that newly planted urban trees don’t always survive their first three years, and are calling on people to water trees near where they live.
“Planting a tree is just the start of the story,” says John Parker of the Arboricultural Association. “The health and survival of new urban trees is threatened by increasingly dry weather. It is recommended that newly planted trees are given 50 litres of water per week during the summer months, for the first three years. You can help ensure healthy trees for the future over the summer months by watering trees near you.”
Some places have set up watering rotas in the neighbourhood, and some families have made it part of an after-dinner routine with the children. Other tips to consider:
Watering a tree in the morning or evening is best - more will evaporate if it’s done in the middle of the day.
Don’t let it stop you if the tap is all you have, but use rainwater from a water butt if you can. ‘Grey water’ is also fine for trees, the Woodland Trust assure us, so you can use washing up water or bathwater.
Hang a tag on young trees to ask neighbours to join you in watering trees. You can download these ones to print, or order them for free.
Planting trees? Or aware of some saplings that need some care? Use the ticl.me app to tell people about them.
In other news…
A group of Luton teachers have been taking part in a training programme to equip them for climate action in their schools. We’ll report more on this at the end of the programme.
Luton Airport’s procurement team have won four industry awards for the social value they create through the supply chain. Their sustainability led procurement plan sees over half of their spend located within 40km of the airport.
A major development of flats on Victoria Street in the town centre has been proposed with all-electric heating, passive design elements and 100 square metres of solar panels.
Thanks for reading! Please share this with anyone you know who might have an interest in climate action in Luton. And send your own stories to jeremy@earthboundventures.org