Scrapheap Challenge exhibition at Peterborough Museum

Go and see the challenge entries on display at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery until Wednesday!

It's free!

Hear Dick Strawbridge's interview on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

Dick was interviewed by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire the week before the challenge started on 16th October 2008.

The results...

All the teams did a fantastic job on their items and the judges - Dick Strawbridge (Ch 4's Scrapheap Challenge, BBC2's Its not Easy Being Green) and Jenna Hiley (Climate Change Officer from Peterborough City Council) - were very impressed!!!

We enjoyed an event last night which saw the teams put their items to the test.

The eventual winners were Perkins CPI! (Hope you enjoy your champagne which was very kindly donated by John Lewis).

Congratulations to all teams, and thnakyou for taking part!

Check out the coverage in the ET: www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk

Nyree

Team Guttridge - Pete working hard

Team Guttridge update!

Team Guttridge Limited left it to the last night to complete and test their build. After a late night session we managed to complete and test our system. And much to our surprise all seems to work well, but in the true traditions of Scrapheap it may all fall apart on the day of judgment. I’m sure there will be some furious gaffer tapping when we arrive at the museum this afternoon. But what ever happens we have enjoyed the challenge immensely and would like to take this opportunity to thank Nyree and her team for organising the competition.

So all there is left to do is bring on the judges!!

The judging...

Hope you have all been putting the finishing touches to your challenges over the weekend!

Just a quick note about the judging:

You know the criteria...
Judges are looking for innovative, creative and unique entries. Points will be awarded under the following headings:
Ingenuity
Eco-friendliness – have you used the required amounts of scrap materials?
Aesthetic quality
Incorporation of household rubbish
Quality of build and durability
Amount of rainwater captured and held
Accuracy of distribution of rainwater
Wide dispersion of rainwater (you may need to have two settings one to allow accuracy and one to allow wide dispersion)
Power of water jet

There will be two challenges that you will be tested on.

Challenge 1: You will be tested on the dispersal power of your device - the width and coverage of your device will be looked at.

Challenge 2: Power and accuracy test - you will be timed as to how accurately and how quickly you can fill a bucket with rain water.

Goodluck!!!

Team first dipstick (Peterborough Regional College) in action!

Team 1st Dipstick (Peterborough Regional College)

Team Pacman in action!

Team Pacman in action

Team Pacman in action

Team Pacman (Peterborough Regional College) in action!

Photos of the members of Team Pacman, from Peterborough Regional College hard at work on

their project.

Arron, Raj and Joe planning out their project in the Engineering Lab.

Raj working on their engineering masterpiece!

Team update: Team 1st dipsticks

The second team from Peterborough Regional College...these guys are on a 1 year First Diploma course and have only been at college since September They are:

Shaun Veitch
Luke Warrener
William Bowen
Callum Smith
Jezz Wollaston
Adam Biggs

Cat Scrap Scavengers Get Cracking

After a brief foray into the world of used washing machine parts, the team from Cat Electronics find a junk goldmine and belatedly start a frenzy of cobbling-things-together.
Scavenger Dan says "Hope we're not expected to market this thing as well. It's not looking like the kind of thing you'd want to put in one of John Lewis' shop windows!"

Team update - Team Pacman from Peterborough Regional College

Team Pacman in all their glory!















Raj Lackman
Joe White
Arron Rolling
Jamie Gardner
Andrew Holmes
Scott Andrews

Team Pacman are all second year National diploma Students studying Engineering at Peterborough Regional College.

http://www.peterborough.ac.uk/

Team update - Perkins CPI

The CPI team have had a number of productive team meetings where brain storming has produced some good ideas.

The trouble is we couldn't remember the next day, good job Dave scribed, mind you I can't read it.

We have found you can't beat a good rummage through the rubbish to give spontaneous ideas.

Not giving too much away, we are defiantly green in the power source and feel we have optimised our delivery of anything captured.

None of us are particularly skilled in fabrication, we will do the pigeons proud with the welding, it beats super glue.

We have had our first set back, our prototype fell apart, it totaly failed in that we almost scrapped the whole idea, I think we have saved the day and are pressing on to meet the 19th deadline.

A view of the judging site

Round the back of the museum! 12 metres long, 6 metres wide...

Judging details, part 2

Getting your devices to the judging venue:
Teams should drop their challenge item off at the museum on November the 19th.

See blog post below for directions.

Arrival time:
Teams need to arrive at the Museum at 3-3.30pm.

Judging will begin at 4pm – so this gives you time to set up and get ready.

Entrance:
There will be signage to the entrance to the garden area you need to get to – follow the signs, don’t go to the main entrance.

Judging Criteria:
Judges are looking for innovative, creative and unique entries. Points will be awarded under the following headings:
Ingenuity
Eco-friendliness – have you used the required amounts of scrap materials?
Aesthetic quality
Incorporation of household rubbish
Quality of build and durability
Amount of rainwater captured and held
Accuracy of distribution of rainwater
Wide dispersion of rainwater (you may need to have two settings one to allow accuracy and one to allow wide dispersion)
Power of water jet

The tests:
Teams will be put through their paces one team at a time.

More details on this to follow.

Deadline extensions:
We may be able to grant deadline extensions (between 17th and 19th November)– please contact me on 01733 567159. There may be a points penalty though.

The Winners:
The winning team will enjoy a fantastic eco-hamper of food, drink, gadgets and vouchers worth over £300.
The winning team will be presented with their prize at the judging event by Dick Strawbridge.

Questions:
If you have any questions at all, get in touch with me:
01733 567159
nyree.ambarchian@pect.net

Thanks,

Nyree

The Judging details...

Dear teams,

The judging will be held at Peterborough Museum, in the garden area at the back of the museum.

For those of you who will be driving (we will be super impressed if you manage to get your device along to the judging using sustainable travel, but may be rather tricky!!) parking will be available in Trinity Street Car Park which is right next to the judging site.

To get to the judging site (and car park) you need to come into Peterborough City Centre and turn left at the ET building.

Then once you've passed the front entrance of the museum you need to turn right into Trinity Street, the car park is on the right.

I am trying to get you all free parking, but it's only £1 anyway so hopefully won't break the bank!

If you don't know Peterborough very well, or need more help with directions give me a call: 01733 567159

Thanks,

Nyree

Wear Green on 19th November...

Wear Green on 19th November!

People from accross Peterborough will be wearing an item of green clothing on 19th November to support Peterborough's ambition to become the UK's Environment Capital.

Wednesday 19th November will see Peterborough officially launch its ambition to create the UK’s Environment Capital.

Wear an item of green clothing on Wednesday 19th November to show your support!

To fine out more email Nyree Ambarchian
nyree.ambarchian@pect.net

Update from team: Guttridge Limited

A slow start from Guttridge Limited, with one team member in Ireland then Scotland for a week, but we are now bursting with ideas, too many in fact!

With the competition giving little away on their designs, Team Guttridge are not about to tell all either.

The team comprises of two design engineers and two skilled fabricators, all young and very keen about the challenge.

Yesterdays team meeting was very productive, but the biggest challenge the team feel they face is who gets to squirt the water on the day!

How to 'green' your business

Looking to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce your energy bills, cut the waste you send to landfill?

Business Envestors is a scheme managed by Peterborough Environment City Trust to help you do just that...

We help all sorts of businesses go green and save money - offices, hotels, factories, distribution centres, construction firms, the food and drink industry, manufacturers, printers and public sector organisations.

Visit www.businessenvestors.co.uk to find out more information.

Contact Kalai Mahalingham for an informal chat to find out how Business Envestors could help you - 01733 569830, kalai.mahalingham@pect.net

Let the competition commence!

Royal Haskoning has put together a team of 6 electrical, civil and coastal engineers, as well as a couple of environmental scientists for good measure, who are all set for PECT’s scrapheap challenge!

After batting several very different ideas around the table, we settled on one which we believe to be the winner - which of course we couldn’t possibly reveal at this stage!

We sketched out the details and compiled our materials wish list, then headed straight for the scrap yard. The team got off to a flying start and by the end of the day had collected the majority of items, including the ‘backbone’ of the design.

Unfortunately the pace slowed during the first build session when it was discovered the ‘heart’ of the operation was in fact broken. So another trip to the scrap yard was called for, which prompted the team to adopt a ‘take all you can carry’ attitude, which understandably didn’t bode well for the car share journey back to the office.

With progress back on track and the team enthused with the quality of their design, Royal Haskoning is now looking forward to lifting the trophy!

Royal Haskoning
Tuesday 28th October

So who are the teams?

Teams registered to take part include three teams from Perkins:
CPI from Perkins
RECYCLE from Perkins
Perkins 1 (to be named)

A team from Royal Haskoning, consulting engineers, architects and environmental scientists based in Bretton.

A team from Guttridge Limited based in Spalding.

Tree teams from Peterborough Regional College.

We may also have a team from Opportunity Peterborough and Peterborough City Council.

Use of electricity in designs

It was previously thought that use of mains electricity would be possible...however this is no longer going to be the case.

A possible alternative would be to use battery power - battery should be in a waterproof compartment.

Common Questions...

1) For the max size 0.95cm3 does this relate to volume or the total size envelope?
This rule was given to ensure that your creations fit into the judging area - the entrance is only 0.95cm wide - so the envelope size not the volume.

2) Dose the 0.95m3 dimension only apply when the device is transported and stored or can it open out and exceed 0.95m3 when in operation?
Yes the device can open out once inside the judging area.

3) If we use an external device to power the machine should that also be in the o.95m3
As long as the device can fit through the entrance bits sticking out don't matter.

4)What is the average rain fall expected to collect in the test condition?
Rainwater will be collected and stored ready for the judging - each team will be given 10 litres of rain water to use for each of the tests. Teams are not expected to bring their own rainwater or have the device already stored with rainwater.

Full details on the tests will be sent round shortly.

5) What is the intended length of time for operation under each test condition?
A few minutes (tbc).

6) Is there to be a constant supply of rain fall or is it delivered in specific quantities for each test condition?
Delivered in specific quantities.

Peterborough is one of six UK zero waste places

It's just been announced that Peterborough is one of only six UK places that will pioneer new waste management techniques as part of a government scheme.

More info will follow - exciting stuff and a real feather in the cap for Peterborough's ambition to create the UK's Environment Capital!!

Team Update: RECYCLE (Relatively Exuberant Collection of Young (ish) Craftsmen Led Engineers)

Team Update from RECYCLE (Relatively Exuberant Collection of Young (ish) Craftsmen Led Engineers) from Perkins...

Most of the RECYCLE team have now seen the brief. The are a few ideas flying around but at this early stage, nothing that could be released to the world. I would hate to feed ideas to others.

The brief has given rise to several questions due to the non specific nature, however, this is good as it gives plenty of room for individual interpretation. Should be interesting to see how the different teams have interpretted what is required...

Dave Belcher, RECYCLE

Dick appears on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

Dick appeared on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Breakfast Show this morning, speaking to the team live from Priestgate in Peterborough.

He talked about the importance of reduce and reuse before we look at recyle, and how this will be vital in Peterborough's bid to create the UK's Environment Capital.

Challenge brief released...

The teams taking part in the challenge have just received their brief!

(If you would like to take part there is still time - contact Nyree Ambarchian from Peterborough Environment City Trust.)

The Brief:

Teams must create a device which catches and distributes rainwater.

The device must be stationary while in use, must be no larger than 1m3 and must be light enough for two adults to carry (we need to get it into the Museum where the judging will be carried out). The weight of the device should be without rainwater included (if it is too heavy to carry after rainwater has been added this is fine).

The rules:
- 90% items used must be scrap materials.
- 20% of the 90% must be household rubbish that you are rescuing from either the green or black bin. For example, broken saucepan, toilet rolls, milk bottle tops.

An important part of the challenge will be ensuring your project is delivered to the judging venue by the deadline (2pm on Monday 17th November 2008) – so mobility and lightweight design are important factors in your build. Remember the device must be light enough to be lifted by two adults (not entrants to Mr Muscle Universe – ‘normal’ adults!)

Do not include:
Any internal combustion engine,
Any steam engine
Any flammable liquid
Nuclear power (just incase Macgyver or the A team decide to enter!)
Any item which requires a COSHH assessment (care of substances hazardous to health).

Judging Criteria:
Judges are looking for innovative, creative and unique entries. Points will be awarded under the following headings:
Ingenuity
Eco-friendliness – have you used the required amounts of scrap materials?
Aesthetic quality
Incorporation of household rubbish
Quality of build and durability
Amount of rainwater captured and held
Accuracy of distribution of rainwater
Wide dispersion of rainwater (you may need to have two settings one to allow accuracy and one to allow wide dispersion)
Power of water jet

The Judging:
On 19th of November in the presence of our judge Dick Strawbridge teams will be put through their paces as we test them in a gantlet of challenges.

1) The paint test – can your device clean a lightly painted surface?
2) Carbon criminals – can your device knock our carbon criminals down a peg or two?
3) Mystery challenge

Peterborough Evening Telegraph shouts about the Scrapheap Challenge!

The article featured in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph...

Scrapheap Challenge comes to Peterborough…

Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) is organising a Scrapheap Challenge in Peterborough which is being judged by presenter of the new series of the Channel 4 show, Dick Strawbridge.

The event is being held to raise the profile of ways we can manage rubbish more sustainably. PECT runs a project called Eastex Materials Exchange which works with local businesses to change the way they manage their waste materials. Eastex has re-homed over 10,000 tonnes of goods ensuring items don’t end up in landfill but are put back into the supply chain.

Re-homed items include surplus building materials, rolls of material, second hand cooking oil and even a ton of potpourri.

Ian Tennant is from Eastex, he explains, “We want to change the way people see rubbish – what may be waste to one person is another persons’ raw material.

“Through the Scrapheap Challenge we hope to encourage people, in a fun way, to help give rubbish a second chance. We hate to see useful items ending up in landfill as this is not very environmentally friendly.

“In an ideal world we would reduce the amount of waste we produce in the first place, reuse what we can’t reduce and recycle the rest.

“Teams taking part in the Challenge will have to use items that others have deemed rubbish and put them to good use.”

Teams already signed up include RECYCLE (Relatively Exuberant Collection of Young (ish) Craftsmen Led Engineers) from Perkins as well as teams from Royal Haskoning and Hereward FM.

The Peterborough Scrapheap Challenge differs slightly from the Channel 4 show because teams have a month to design and complete their challenge, however they will have to source their own scrap using a suggested supply list. It is free for teams to enter the Challenge.

Dick Strawbridge will be judging the entries at Peterborough Museum on 19th November from 4pm.

Judge confirmed - Dick Strawbridge

Dick Strawbridge from BBC2's It's not Easy being Green and presenter of Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge is confirmed as the judge of Peterborough's Scrapheap Challenge.

Dick will be in the city judging the competition on 19th November at Peterborough Museum, at around 4pm.

Later that evening he will be speaking at Peterborough Environment City Trust's event where Peterborough will formally launch its ambition to become the UK's Environment Capital.

Facts about Dick Strawbridge:
Richard Francis Strawbridge was born in Burma in 1959. The third of seven children, he was raised and educated in County Antrim, N Ireland.

In 1978 Dick joined the Army, and a few years later did a degree in Electrical Engineering.
After a tour in Northern Ireland, Dick was awarded the MBE in 1993.

Whilst he was still serving in the Army, Dick's family persuaded him to audition for C4's 'Scrapheap'. Dick was successful, and was catapulted into the world of television as the 'Yellow Team Leader' for six episodes in the first ever series of 'Scrapheap'!

After leaving the Army in 2001 Dick worked in industry for three years. He took a sabbatical to film the popular series 'Crafty Tricks of War', which he presented for BBC2. In this series, Dick celebrated British ingenuity and demonstrated his practical skills by reconstructing and testing some of the most unusual inventions of war.

Two BBC series of ‘Its Not Easy Being Green’ saw Dick and his family moving to Cornwall and living a low impact life, making their own renewable energy and providing their own food, and then helping others with their green projects.

Dick lives on an idyllic smallholding in Cornwall where he runs courses in all aspects of green living.

Peterborough's Scrapheap Challenge

The Challenge is being held as part of the celebrations to mark 15 years since Peterborough was designated one of only four UK Environment Cities (along with Leicester, Middlesborough and Leeds).

Now Peterborough is aiming to become the model for sustainability - aiming to create the UK's Environment Capital. The Scrapheap Challenge is also an important part of this ambition helping to promote the idea that we are too quick to throw things away - one persons' rubbish is another's raw material.

We should reduce the amount of waste we produce as a first step, then re-use wherever possible. Recycling should only be a last resort - if we re-use instead no extra energy is required to make something new.

This is what the Scrapheap Challenge is all about - showing that what some people consider 'rubbish' is actually useful stuff...giving rubbish a second chance.