Councillors and members of the local community attended a launch event at St Pauls Primary School for the project, which will see donations given to local community projects and schools.
Other recipients will be St Pauls Primary School, Shapla Primary School, the St George Greening Project and the St George Seniors Club.
Residents earn donations for local projects by using both new and existing recycling facilities, including a new food waste composting service, with kitchen caddies to be delivered to households shortly.
The food waste will be processed on site and turned into compost for use on the St George Estate’s community gardens and orchard. Residents can also earn points by recycling using their normal recycling facilities, properly disposing of used cooking oil, recycling bulky waste and acting as local recycling champions.
Cooking oil has been identified as a waste stream which housing provider Eastend homes are keen to tackle.
Cooking oil
Paul Wilson, community engagement manager at Eastend Homes says “Pouring used cooking oil down the drain has caused blockages and maintenance issues in our properties before so we’re delighted to see residents incentivised to change their behaviour. We think this scheme is a great way to help residents reduce the amount they are throwing away whilst at the same time giving back to the community through charity donations.”
Tower Hamlets Community Points is jointly funded by Eastend Homes and waste contractor Urbaser, with operational support from London Metropolitan University.
Javier Peiro, Managing Director of Urbaser, says “we’ve worked closely with Local Green Points in the past and see real value in the services they provide. We’re always keen to support projects, such as this one, that help boost recycling rates and enable community initiatives to grow and flourish.”
Graham Simmonds, Managing Director of Local Green Points, says “I’m excited by the strong community nature of this project as this should be really motivational for residents and will encourage them to recycle more, as will the introduction of these new facilities.”
David Barraclough from London Metropolitan University sees student champions playing a key part in the project, saying “our students at London Met are keen on environmental issues and I’ve already got several student volunteers ready to help with the composting.”
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