Council trials smart food waste caddies

A scheme by Denbighshire County Council to trial microchips on food waste caddies has just been launched.

Every week the council collects food waste through the orange caddy collection system.  

The food waste collected by Denbighshire  is taken to an anaerobic composting facility near St Asaph and turned into a valuable soil fertilizer that is used by North Wales farmers.  

The process also produces green energy for around 2,000 homes.

This six-month trial will involve installing the microchips for 630 properties in four communities (in parts of Corwen, Ruthin, Prestatyn and Rhyl) and is part of the council’s campaign to improve recycling rates, ahead of major changes to waste and recycling services in the county in 2021.

The information collected will inform the council which properties have put out their caddy and which ones have not.   

It will help the council to gather monitoring data quickly and efficiently so it is able to visit people who are not using the orange caddy system over long periods and offer support to encourage them to recycle. 

The council already collects this information manually but it is time consuming and releasing this time would allow staff to talk to people who need more support to recycle. The data it receives manually can also be inaccurate as it is not always possible to know which house a caddy belongs to.

The council is working with a company called Schaefer who have developed the software and have offered the trial free of charge so the council can explore the benefits of the new system and gain an understanding of feedback from residents, as well as see how well the software works. 

If the system helps increase recycling rates the council says it will consider expanding the trial areas in January.

Tony Ward, Denbighshire’s Head of Highways, Facilities and Environmental Services, said: “Despite people in Denbighshire being amongst the highest recyclers in the UK, a quarter of the waste we throw away in our black bins is food waste.  

"To hit the recycling targets set by Welsh Government we need to make sure all our food waste is recycled and not wasted.

“Over the next six months we are launching a range of projects aimed at getting people to recycle food waste for the first time, as well as encouraging active recyclers to recycle even more.

“This is a ground-breaking project and we will be following the results of this initiative with great interest, to see whether it makes a difference to recycling rates and the public’s response to the scheme."  

Sion Corn tries a husky team to reach festival

* Natalie Hallmark Jones, right, and daughter 

Holly help Sion Corn try out the team of Siberian Huskies.

Sion Corn – the Welsh Santa Claus – has been checking out the quickest way to reach Llangollen when the town stages its annual Christmas Festival on Saturday November 30.

Thousands of seasonal revellers are expected to come flocking to the Denbighshire tourist spot for the big event.

As Sion Corn will be starring in the traditional parade and wants to make sure he’s there in good time on the day he’s been trying out various modes of travel.

And he reckons he had the most fun so far when he put a pack of Siberian Huskies to the test.

The magnificent dogs are part of the Wrexham-based Wolf Pack which races regularly across the UK and will be making a special guest appearance alongside him in the big parade on festival day.

Wolf Pack owns 11 huskies, nine of which are Siberian, one an Alaskan and another a Northern Inute Kelip. 

All the huskies are looked after by Rob and Natalie Hallmark Jones and their daughter Holly who helped Sion Corn get the feel of the reins as he settled in behind the team during his practice session.

Later he said: “That was very exciting and you wouldn’t believe how fast these fantastic dogs can travel. I should be able to make it from Lapland to Llangollen in no time on festival day.”  

Kicking off at 1pm with the famous parade, which sees Sion Corn being escorted into town over the historic bridge by a colourful cavalcade of entertainers and local groups, the event features children’s fairground rides, food stalls, choirs, craft stalls, circus acts and face painting.

There will also be a chance for youngsters to visit Sion Corn in his glorious grotto and put in their early requests from what they’d like to see him bring them on Christmas morning. 

During the afternoon visitors can look forward to an eclectic mix of musical entertainment from local groups on two outdoor stages and other on-street entertainment.

The fun-packed day rounds off at 5pm with the ceremonial switching on of Llangollen’s legendary Christmas lights and a firework extravaganza. 

Llangollen Christmas Festival is organised by a group of dedicated community volunteers. It costs over £4,000 to stage each year and is self-funding.

The festival aims to provide a free family-orientated event in the safety of the town centre with surplus funds being donated to Wales Air Ambulance and local community groups.

Over the last couple of years the police have estimated that the spectacular event draws over 2,000 people into town during the course of the afternoon.

For the third year the festival has teamed up with Light Up Local Food, a project aimed at promoting Llangollen-based food and drink producers.

Chairman of the festival committee Austin ‘Chem’ Cheminais, who is also the local town crier and a member of the town council, said: “With the help of the community we manage, each year, to raise just about enough to fund the event and give a little to charity.

“Last year’s festival was particularly successful thanks to the good weather and the feedback from those attending was very positive.

“The ‘market’ feel to the event provided by Light UP Local Food was particularly commented upon and helped to attract visitors from much further afield.

“Once again we’re expecting a bumper crowd to come along and help us to give a great early start to Christmas.” 

Festival organisers have also arranged for free parking throughout the day at local car parks.

Message of thanks from Oak Street Gallery

Oak Street Gallery in Llangollen has sent through a message of thanks to all those who attended the opening of the Jon Young Art winter exhibition the weekend before last. 

It says: "Thank you to everyone who has visited this vibrant, colourful exhibition of people and places already and to all the hardy souls who braved the snow to make our opening event such a success.

"We are now into our final week at this amazing gallery and the paintings will be coming down on Monday 25th November so please come along to enjoy Jon's work before then. We are open every day 10am-5pm (4pm on Sunday), but not open until lunchtime on Monday 18th.

"We look forward to seeing you."

Lunchtime recital features songs from Shea

Cash available for open spaces and play areas

Funding totalling £209,000 is available to improve open spaces and play areas in Denbighshire.

The county council’s Open Spaces Commuted Sums is now open to communities across the county.

A commuted sum is a payment from developers to a local authority when it is not appropriate to provide the required outdoor open space during a development.

The funds are held specifically for the enhancement of open spaces and play areas, and are used in the same area as the development.

The fund is open to town or community councils, community or voluntary groups.

* Closing date for funding applications is Friday, January 31, 2020 and for details visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/commuted-sums

A worthy contender in the prestige SUV arena

* The DS7 Crossback above and below.

DS7 Crossback road test by Steve Rogers

Goddess. What a wonderful name for a car, particularly one that lit up the motoring world.

That was the incomparable Citroen DS of 1955, the car that changed the face of motoring with its ground breaking design and technology. 

In French DS, or rather Déesse, means goddess, a nugget of information imparted by my wife who speaks the lingo.

Fitting then that Peugeot Citroen should choose DS to front its luxury marque and DS7 Crossback is its first completely new model, as opposed to DS3,4 and 5 which were rebadged Citroens before the brand was launched last year.

That is why there are not too many DS7s around ... yet. It takes a while to establish a new luxury brand, look how long it has taken Lexus to get a decent foothold, and DS7 is up against Audi, BMW, Mercedes, all of whom have established, prestige SUVs.

Yes, DS7 is an SUV when you might have thought a luxury saloon would be the way to go given the DS heritage. But this was a smart move by the brains at Peugeot Citroen who figured, correctly as it turned out, that SUVs were the future.

So how is DS7 Crossback fairing in this difficult old world? At just under 4.6m it sits between an Audi Q3 and Q5 and is a smidgen longer than Volkswagen's Tiguan.

The target market is the luxury end so a lot of time and money has gone into creating something special. Special enough to turn people's heads away from the mighty German trio.

And DS has the perfect setting to model its 'special' car. Paris. So the stylists homed in on the glass pyramid at the Louvre and the Rue de Rivoli, the most fashionable street in Paris for inspiration.

Let's move on from the car's body shape, which is a bit flat, and concentrate on the chic styling. The LED light clusters are just exquisite. Up front are three individual ice cube style modules while the diamond design strip at the rear is even more spectacular. That is the first introduction to the diamond theme (remember the Louvre's glass pyramid) which runs riot in the cabin.

There are four interior styles, or inspirations as they are called, and my test car was Rivoli. This is French chic in full flow with a variety of classy materials and attention to detail. Here diamonds are DS7's best friend, diamond shaped dials, screen graphics and grey diamond quilted leather upholstery.

Elsewhere crystal effect switches lodged between the front seats conclude the eye candy show. It sounds over the top but as a visual spectacle it works and more stunning than anything the German SUVs can offer.

A 12 inch touchscreen dominates the dashboard from where you can access just about every function. A row of touch sensitive switches give quick access but it is all a bit challenging for the driver. Voice control is available but didn't always respond to commands.

Ahead of the driver is a 12.3in digital instrument cluster, interchangeable of course, with a full width navigation map among the features.

This is a comfortable five seater and will easily accommodate three adults in the back where head and legroom is ample. It is also well off for storage space with good sized door bins and a huge box between the front seats.

As with most French cars ride comfort is key so don't expect DS7 to have the pure driving dynamics of a similar Audi or BMW. Yet there is a decent compromise here with three drive modes, and on the more expensive models a sensor in the windscreen which can spot poor road surfaces and adapt the suspension to give the smoothest ride.

My test car came with the turbocharged 1.6 litre petrol, a feisty number mated to an eight speed automatic box, but not the best option for big economy. Best I could manage was 33mpg overall so look to the diesel or even the hybrid for better results.

DS has made a pretty good fist of its first bespoke model although one thing that needs sorting is the poor definition of the rear camera, a problem that goes across the board with all Peugeot and Citroen models.

Make no mistake DS7 is a worthy contender in the prestige SUV arena and the interior styling is ahead of any of its German rivals. It is also very good value for money with a long spec list.

The elephant in the room for me is its cousin, the Peugeot 3008 which shares many components. It is better looking, has an equally impressive cabin although it falls below the level of quality, and is cheaper. So it is still my favourite SUV.

Key facts

DS7 Crossback Prestige

£41,085

1.6 litre turbo; 225bhp

0-62mph 8.3secs; 145mph

36.2-40.4mpg combined

125-130g/km. 1st road tax £170

Boot 618 litres

Insurance group 29

Flu clinic at the health centre tomorrow

LLANGOLLEN HEALTH CENTRE

FLU CLINIC

For patients aged 65 and over or those aged under 65 who have received a letter telling them they are eligible

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Saturday 16^th November

8.30AM – 12.30PM

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This is a walk-in clinic –

no appointment necessary

www.llangollenhealth.com