Sally from Devon Waste Education came into class 4 today to talk to us about our waste. We learnt all about what we throw away and how we could reduce the shocking amount of waste we produce in today’s world.

We found out that just to make a battery we need different materials from all around the world – many of which are finite resources – and that a battery takes 50x as much energy to produce than it can be used for. But once we have finished with it, we just throw it away.

We then found out about a different way that products can be produced: a company called Networks in the Phillipines is collecting old fishing nets (which are causing massive environmental damage over there) and using them to produce carpet tiles. This company then also collects the tiles from the customer when they are worn out and recycles them again to make more new tiles – nothing is ever wasted and none of the plastic is left in the environment. Watch a video about the project here http://net-works.com/about-net-works/  So far they have recycled over 125 metric tonnes of fishing net – enough to go around the World twice!

How many other things could be produced in this way? We were amazed at some of the products that could be made from recycled plastic, including fleece scarves and shopping bags. When we learnt that plastic is made from a finite resource which is predicted to run out in our lifetime (oil) and that it never actually decomposes but just breaks down into tiny toxic pieces which then get into our food chain, we started to think how important recyling it is.

In the afternoon we carried out a survey on the waste we produce from our packed lunches at Georgeham School…

It was great to see that the amount of waste had gone down from when we did the audit 2 years ago, and this year there was only one Cheese String, but there was still room for improvement. For tips on how to make the ‘Perfect Packed Lunch’ watch out for class 4’s leaflet which we will be writing and sending out to parents at the end of term!

A big thanks to Sally for a fun and informative day.

Miss Hill