Last Wednesday, I was in the audience of Loose Women (an ITV talk show) I got to do ‘a bit’ to the audience where I walked on stage as a ‘Loose Woman’ and announce the competition before the show started.

Anyway, Davina McCall was the guest and she was on to talk about her initiative with schools on recycling.

Myself and three other pretend ‘Loose Women’ with Ruth Langsford

Recycle Plastic to make your school fantastic by Garnier fronted by Davina McCall

In the discussion, Davina was saying clear plastic bottles are recycled but if we don’t take the lids off, the whole thing goes in landfill!

The initiative is to educate children and hopefully empower them and in turn, help parents to know how to recycle properly.

It’s also a competition where you could win a £10,000 Playground Makeover (using recycled plastic) at your school! You’ve got until the 5/07/19 to sign up. If you’re a parent or a nanny, you can encourage your children’s school to take part by downloading the PDF and taking it at drop off or pick up! ♻️

https://www.garnier.co.uk/plasticfantastic

Sorting

I would say I’m very good at recycling but I could be better. I always separate my food waste so what goes in my bin is very clean but then I always have to sort through before I take them down from my flat. My kitchen is very small and I’d been thinking about getting another bin…

Funnily, two days later, I was at my friend, Pippa Kay’s, house for a delicious vegan risotto. She has just moved house. Pippa and her housemate bought two recycling bins, but both were too small so they bought yet another albeit bigger one. She was explaining about not being able to return them easily and I just said, “I’ll take one”

But then she proceeded to try and sell it to me! She even got it out for a demonstration!!

Little bin, big bin

Knowing what things are made of will help your children in Science. Getting them involved in sorting the recycling can be made fun. So long as they are clean and safe (not sharp tins) then use it as a counting activity or colour for our smallest ones.

If the recycling has labels on, you can even use it as an opportunity to practice sounds and words…try “fastest finger first” from my previous blog on Spellings.

https://moretobooks.blog/2019/04/24/spellings-how-to-get-your-reluctant-readers-interested/

Walking

It’s not just in our own homes that we can recycle. Recently, on dog walks with my nanny children, we wear gloves and each pick up rubbish, mainly plastic…in the local park. It gives the little one something to focus on and we can talk about shape and colour and what it is made of, all while making our environment a better place.

My dad has always gone for walks to pick up drinks cans…he even roots through bins to get them out, as there is a local centre that actually pays for aluminium cans. I remember as a child, we would know which cans (Pepsi) were always steel so would have to bin those…and which cans were recyclable.

On another note, being an adult now, beer cans are good to keep the pesky slugs from eating your plants in the garden, as they are attracted to the smell…

Street Style Surgery with Sissy Rooney

If you are a school or group in the North of England, I highly recommend working with Street Style Surgery with Sissy Rooney. I employed her in a couple of schools while I worked as a teacher around Manchester. If you are a parent or nanny, why not consider using them for a birthday party?

We used old materials to sew flowers and we used magazines to make beads for necklaces Or bracelets as well using recycled pots and magazines for pen pots.

Magazine Bracelet and recycled flowers

For recycling workshops, go check it out:

http://www.streetstylesurgery.co.uk/workshops/particle-article-recycling-workshop-134/

They have other workshops including sports, music, fashion, drama, health and well-being, business. Well worth a look out for an exciting way into lots of topics.

http://www.streetstylesurgery.co.uk/workshops/

There is probably something similar in your area, so have a Google!

More to books…

It’s sometimes obvious to use non-fiction books. Most of the books are about the whole topic of how to save energy and save the planet, not just recycling. The first three books are library finds. I only share the ones that I like. Some don’t make the cut as they are toooo boring!

What a waste by Jess French was my favourite library find ad it was interesting and the pictures are fun and engaging.

What a waste by Jess French

101 ways to save the Earth by David Bellamy

For older children, What’s the point of being Green by Jacqui Bailey was a great library find:

What’s the point of being green by Jacqui Bailey

Fiction books that tackle recycling are brilliant.

Carol Bass is a Canadian author who is very passionate about recycling as it can save our oceans. When I interviewed her she said:

“I have been scuba diver for over 45 years and love the ocean. My first book on sharks was to impress on children that our oceans would not exist as they are shepherds of the sea. They have been in existence for over 400 yrs before dinosaurs. Marine life is ingesting all the plastic and garbage dumped into oceans and dying painful horrendous deaths. 70% of the oxygen we breath is generating by the oceans so if we dont save our oceans our world or at least humans will not survive. I wrote for children as they are our future and maybe they can have a voice to impress on government”

Go to her website for more information:

http://www.sharkeyandfriends.com

I love Lauren Child’s for her Charlie and Lola books as she covers most topics. “We are extremely very good recyclers” is a good one for reading about recycling.

Lauren Child at a book signing in Kew Bookshop. She gave me a quote for my book!

Show me your new objects using recycled goods!

Whose school is following the ‘Recycle plastic to make your school fantastic’ campaign?

If you are, lots of luck!

Love Kat x