Welcome to RoWAN

RoWAN (Ross-shire Waste Action network) works with communities in Ross-shire on waste awareness and waste prevention activities. We encourage and support householders and businesses to reduce the amount of waste that they create and send to landfill.

Look at RoWAN's past and present projects,  advice on waste reduction, reuse and recycling, news, events, offers, competitions, and links to other waste reducing organisations. Find out about composting and our Master Composting Programme.

Householders on the monitored RCV (Refuse Collection Vehicle) route can see their weekly bin weight.

Want to add/update your contact details to our e/mailing list or become a  RoWAN volunteer (wide range of volunteering opportunities available) or apply for RoWAN membership? Click on work with us.

We will be upgrading our website in the next few months to include many new improvements including options for you to comment but in the meantime we welcome any emails on waste reduction comments, tips or, for example, links to other useful websites with advice on waste reduction.

News:

We are now recruiting for a 3 month graduate placement for a computer reuse project.

Come along to the The Greenhouse  on Friday 26th or Saturday 27th June between 1-3pm to find out more about  composting and growing food.  

See RoWAN's latest May newsletter.

New project: RoWAN has secured funding til March 2011 for a “Towards Zero Waste Communities Project” to expand our waste awareness work in Ross-shire. See press release for more detail. We are currently working with Alness, Dingwall, Tain and Ullapool. (Find out how to reduce waste in each community by clicking the links or check out other community news). 

Food Waste: Rowan is trying to encourage households in Ross-shire to reduce the amount of food they throw out. To help with this we are providing our food waste diary which can be downloaded here.  Click on information and tips and initial and feedback questionnaires for more details.

Schools: RoWAN has recently helped pupils and staff carry out 'waste audits' in Dingwall Academy and Primary, Ullapool High and St Duthus, Craighill and Bridgend Primary Schools. Through these audits we help pupils look at how much and what type of waste their school produces in a day and then plan how to reduce the waste through various activities.

RoWAN is making links with SOS Addis, a waste education organisation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. SOS Addis was set up in 2004 and work on a wide range of issues, from plastics collection to skilling destitute women in sewing shopping bags to supporting environmental clubs in schools. We're delighted to have this connection, as information exchange on resource use, educational materials, community campaigning etc will be very useful indeed for both groups. Through this, Alness Academy are beginning to forge links with Ayer Amba, a secondary school of around 1000 pupils in Addis Ababa. The two schools both have very active eco groups, and it'll be fascinating for the pupils and staff to learn from each other. We're being helped in making this link by Janis Keast from Highland One World Group.
Lizbeth from the RoWAN office visited family in Addis Ababa at Easter and while she was there met SOS Addis staff and teachers and pupils at Ayer Amba school.

Alness artwork gets pupils to think more about what we throw out.

Business waste: Recycling & reusing may prove cheaper, help the environment and give your company a green image. We are offering businesses in Dingwall, Ullapool and Alness advice and a chance to join a free local waste exchange scheme More details on our business page.

A child has around 5000 nappy changes from birth to potty. With disposables, that’s a lot of waste and a lot of money in the bin. And they’ll sit in landfill for hundreds of years…
Washable nappies are easy, effective and save you £400 to £1000 per child. For more details and to reserve a Starter Pack contact: 0845 201 2609 info@hrnp.org.uk www.hrnp.org.uk. If you live in Alness, Dingwall, Invergordon, Tain or Ullapool and want to give the nappies a go, call us and RoWAN will give you a FREE nappy to try!

'Ullapool's Cottoned On' Bag Success -over 2500 bags sold.

Good news on plastic, carton, computer monitor recycling and more kerbside recycling!

Find out about the new Highland Council rural kerbside collections.

Did you know plastic drinks and milk bottles are now collected for recycling at the Highland Council Dingwall , Alness and Tain recycling centres? There is also now a carton collection at the Dingwall recycling centre arranged through Tetrapak and the Highland Council. Just rinse them out, no need to remove plastic lids. Why not collect them along with your plastic bottles and take them through next time you are going that way?

Computer monitors are now collected at Dingwall and Alness recycling centres.

Closures: 
Unfortunately the plastic bottle and cardboard collection site at Strathcarron is now closed and the site is been cleared.The site was really a victim of its own success in that the system couldn't cope with the volume of bottles received – an estimated 266 bags (16 tonnes) were recycled from Strathcarron between May 2007 and Nov 2008 - a great effort by the community. For more information click here.

Also the Ullapool plastic drinks bottle collection facility at The Troll Yard is now closed. We are waiting on a decision on where a new collection point is to be located.