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Currently touring secondary schools in Derbyshire. Waste Watchers follows the story of 3 Yr 8 pupils all with differing knowledge, attitude and opinions about environmental issues, left to right, Wizza, Max and Smooch:
Tasked with an ‘environmental competition thingy for Mrs Moody?’ they discover the importance of the three R’s and consider what actions they can take to reduce reuse and recycle their waste to help protect the environment for themselves and for future generations.
Also featuring: Billy Big, Jedward, Wendy, Louie Walsh, Anne Robinson, Simon Cowell and Gino.
“Waste Watchers” challenges the audience to become more environmentally aware and consider how the actions that they can take to reduce or reuse waste and recycle more will impact positively upon their school, homes and community in which they live.
Currently touring across Secondary Schools in Derbyshire please contact Gibber for more details.
Recycling is a great way to gain more value from materials. Until recent years, a very large proportion of items such as cans, bottles, jars and paper were thrown in our black rubbish bins and put into landfill sites. Now, there are many ways we can easily recycle such materials in Derbyshire.
Economic benefits of recycling
Recycling is a chance to turn old items back into new ones. This reduces the need to extract raw materials and saves resources such as oil, trees and metal ores. As resources are used they become more scarce, this means they become more expensive, by recycling materials the cost increases can be reduced.
Environmental benefits of recycling
A recurring theme in the debate that surrounds waste is the extent to which the recycling of materials does actually benefit the environment. It has been suggested that more energy might be used in getting the materials to a recycling plant and processing them than is saved during the recycling process. The government asked the Waste Resources and Action Programme (WRAP) to study the issues in detail. The report in full is available here: www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Recycling_LCA_Report_Executive_Summary_Sept_2006.11cfd182.2839.pdf
Examples of benefits:
/ Recycling 2 glass bottles...
will save enough energy to boil water for 5 cups of tea.
/ Recycling 1 bottle...
will save enough electricity to run your Wii for 5 hours.
/ The energy saved by recycling one aluminium can...
will power your TV for 3 hours.
/ Recycling one plastic bottle...
will save enough energy to power a 60 watt bulb for 6 hours.
/ Recycling 1 tonne of paper...
can save over 10,000 litres of water, 3,500 kilowatts of electricity
and also cut air pollution by 90%.
Reduce, reuse, recycle - what we can do
We know that the best environmental solution is to Reduce your rubbish – Waste Reduction. If you can’t avoid creating the rubbish the next best solution is to think of ways of reusing the materials – Waste Reuse. If you can’t reduce or reuse materials then recycle them - Waste Recycling
Smart shopping
We can buy too much when we go shopping, research shows that 1/3 of all food bought in the UK ends up being thrown away news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4444429.stm On average we throw away over £400 of food waste per person each year. Find out more: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
Junk Mail
On average each household receives 220 items of junk mail each year. You can register with the Mailing Preference Service to cut this down. Find out more www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/
Reusing materials
Reusing materials can save money and help protect the environment. Here are some ideas to help you:
/ Give things to charity: Recycle your clothes, books and unwanted gifts at charity shops, clothes banks or via charity bags at your doorstep. Some charity shops also accept items such as stamps, coins, mobile phones and cartridges. You can find a list of your local charity shops here:
www.charityshops.org.uk/recycling.html
/ Liquid refreshment: When exercising reuse a cool drinks bottle rather than buying new ones. Find out more:
www.ideasbynet.com/drinks_sports_bottles.htm
/ Book clubs: Start a book club with friends. Sharing books saves
resources and money. Find out more:
www.book-clubs-resource.com/running/starting.php
What else could you share this way? Give unwanted things a new home: Online networks can help you find the person who will think your rubbish might be their riches for everything from CDs to furniture. Try:
Old phones
Recycle your old mobile phone - many supermarkets, charity shops and mobile phone retailers offer recycling services and this raises money for a good cause; For example www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/recycle/bringbring.html You could also do it to raise money for your school: www.recycool.org/
Composting
Composting is one of the very best things we can do. It reduces greenhouse gas pollution and means there is less waste filling up landfills. Garden waste, raw fruit, vegetables, tea bags, paper, cardboard and many other types of rubbish in order to make good quality compost.
www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/
www.derbyshire.gov.uk/environment/rubbish_waste/composting/default.asp
School swap shop
Think about swapping things at school or have a 'swap shop day'. Exchange older goods that might otherwise have been thrown out. There is even a website that allows staff from schools to exchange goods with other schools and parents. www.schoolstrader.com/uk/primarysecondary/index.php
There are now more and easier ways for you to recycle your wastes in Derbyshire including: Using your doorstep recycling service; Use of your local recycling sites; Use of Derbyshire’s 8 Household Waste Recycling Centres. Find out more: www.recyclenow.com/where_to_recycle/index.html
Small actions, big benefits
Through recycling, you really can make a real difference. As more people recycle, the difference adds up to be really significant. In addition, there are loads of great examples on the web of old things being used to make new things, here's a few Waste Watcher favourites:
/ Recycled fleece jumpers (made from plastic bottles):
www.recycledbusinessgifts.co.uk/recycledbottlefleecejumper.htm
/ Recycled bags (made from many different materials):
www.reusablebagco.co.uk/index.php
/ Recycled can animals
www.getethical.com/products/5059/Recycled_Drinks_Can_Rhino
/ Recycled glasses and beakers
www.greenglass.co.uk/home.html
There are plenty of fun recycling activities and games online.
Test your skill and learn more – try these:
www.recyclenow.com/schools/index.html
www.recyclenow.com/schools/index.html
www.britglass.org.uk/Education/EducationHome.html
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/default.aspx
Raising Awareness of Waste and Recycling Issues… in your school and beyond!
Can you…
/ Get people interested in recycling?
/ Encourage people to chuck less rubbish away?
/ Persuade others to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste?
Prizes
First Prize
£1,000
Other prizes
£500 of other in-kind prize money will be shared amongst other winning schools.
Prize money must be spent on improving waste management practices in school or raising awareness of waste management issues within your school and or the local community.
The criteria we will use for judging entries are detailed below but please bear in mind that higher scores will be given to entries which show that actual improvements to physical waste management at school premises have been made either through increased recycling or reduced waste production. Such improvements do not necessarily need to be shown for the whole school. It would be an excellent outcome even if positive changes are achieved in just one area, for example the labs, library, canteen or sports areas.
Achieving actual physical change is that bit harder than simply raising awareness of issues amongst staff, pupils and the local community but awareness campaigns can still have a positive impact and change behaviours. Here are some ideas of what you could do for a competition entry although we are sure you will come up with your own ideas!
Run a waste minimisation campaign and highlight to staff, pupils and the local community all the different ways they can reduce waste. The entry will be looked on even more favourably if the impact of the campaign can be measured through before and after behavior.
Hold an ‘Environment Day’ or ‘Immersion Day’ involving one Year group or the whole school, with a focus on recycling and environmental issues.
Create a DVD to promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling;
Lead a campaign in the local community to promote a specific waste minimisation issue, e.g. use of reusable carrier bags;
Create a piece of recycled artwork or sculpture. Perhaps it could be used as a campaign mascot.
Run a recycled fashion show and inviting parents or the local community to see it.
Top tips - remember small actions, big benefits
What are we looking for?
Successful entries will be those that:
(i) Demonstrate that the school has been creative and original in its approach to promoting waste awareness;
(ii) Demonstrate how successful the school’s campaign has been;
(iii) Have targeted a range of different groups of people (pupils, staff, parents, etc);
(iv) Involved pupils in developing and delivering the campaign;
(v) Have made plans for things the school could do in the future to develop the campaign.
Note - Higher marks will be given to those schools which achieve actual improvements to recycling rates or reduced waste volumes and can show the changes and how they have been achieved. Entries should be no more than six sides of A4 paper plus a cover sheet with a contact name and the school’s name and address. In addition you may wish to submit photographs and examples of pupils’ work, posters, etc to support your application.
This competition is open to secondary schools in Derbyshire which have hosted the Waste Watchers and each school may submit only one entry.
Entries to be submitted by Friday 25th June 2010 to: David Brown, Environmental Services Department, Derbyshire County Council, County Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG.
For further information or to discuss your entry ideas, please phone David Brown or Sheena Le Bas on 01629 538568 or email David.brown2@derbyshire.gov.uk or Sheena.lebas@derbyshire.gov.uk