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How to teach your child about recycling

how to teach your child about recyclingIn the UK alone, there are over 30 million tonnes of waste in the UK generated from households every year. That sounds like a startling figure, but how would you explain that to a child who might not understand the gravity? Well, you could start by comparing it to some things that they do understand the weight of. 30 million tonnes is the equivalent of 4,000,000 elephants and 800,000 times as heavy as an adult hippopotamus.

In the same way that we teach our children about practicing good hygiene, looking both ways when they cross the road and how to look after their money, we also need to teach them the importance of looking after the world we inhabit, and recycling is a key part of that process.

The Three R’s

One of the best methods of teaching your children how to recycle is the ‘Three R’s’ which stand for reduce, reuse and recycle. Reduce is the idea of trying to use, buy and consume less. Reuse is the idea of putting the waste that we do use to a new use and recycle is to properly throw away items that can be recycled so that they avoid going to landfill.

A simple way to teach your children the three R’s is to write them on the fridge and to quiz them occasionally on what they are to see if they still remember. However, to really get the three R’s to stick with your children, you need to teach them why they are important and ultimately a positive thing instead of a chore. Watching nature programmes and highlighting stories about habitat destruction, global warming and other forms of disruption to the environment can help them to understand why they need to do their bit.

That might sound a miserable way to spend your time, but lots of fun can be had with the three R’s too. For example, you can play games in the supermarket where the person who finds a product with the most recyclable form of packaging, or the largest bulk product (to cut down on repeat waste) wins a small prize.

It can also teach valuable life skills too. Instead of throwing away a toy, game or piece of clothing when it breaks you can show them how to repair them instead. Even if you don’t know yourself how to fix something, there are often great instructional articles and videos ‘littered’ around the internet that can show you how.

Another fun activity to enjoy with your children that falls under the reuse category is to enjoy some creative time with your children. Often products like paper, napkins, plates, cups and other household waste items can be repurposed into fun crafts that bring out your child’s artistic side.

Teaching your children about the finite resources of our planet and how we need to help protect it can help your children to not only lead responsible lives but also equip them with valuable skills for the future.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state of the art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.

How are the new bottle deposit schemes going to work?

how are the new bottle deposit schemes going to workEnvironment Secretary Michael Gove recently announced that the government will commit to introducing further efforts to cut plastic waste in the UK, including a bottle and can deposit scheme, in efforts to boost recycling figures and cut down on the impact of plastic waste on the environment.

Consultation will take place later this year to look at rolling it out, but how will the scheme actually work? Luckily there are lots of other examples around the world that can give us a clue or two.

The basic premise of a bottle and can deposit scheme is that a levy is added to the cost of any single-use glass or plastic bottle or steel and aluminium can. This extra cost can then be refunded when the bottle or can is returned. This helps to boost recycling and ultimately cut down on waste that goes to landfill or is littered into the environment.

Some factors that are still to be decided are the cost and the price of such a scheme. Across the world there are currently 40 counties that utilize a deposit return scheme as well as 21 US states. The price of the extra cost addition to the drink ranges between 8p and 22p with Germany at the top-end and Sweden the cheapest.

In terms of returning the bottles and cans, most schemes either see collections made at supermarkets and shops where they are purchased, or at automated collection points, typically in easy to access public areas such as supermarket car parks.

Obviously, not everyone will make the effort to return their bottles and cans for a deposit and what happens to the money when this happens varies from country to country. In some cases the money is donated to charities, while in other schemes the money goes back to the producer, retailer or is put towards the costs of running the scheme.

Currently in the UK only 7.5 billion plastic bottles are recycled every year out of the 13 billion sold. Another 15,000,000 are dropped as litter, landfilled or incinerated every day, a process which creates almost 250,000 tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. The move towards a recycling scheme has also been welcomed by environmental activists concerned about the effect that plastic waste has on marine life, with recent figures showing that plastic pollution could treble in our seas within the decade unless efforts are taken to keep it in check.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state of the art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.

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