Assembly presentation notes SLIDE 1 - Birmingham · Assembly presentation notes PAGE 3 OF 9 It ends up here. Most rubbish that is not recycled ends up being buried in a landfill site,

REGENERATION

SLIDE 1Assembly presentation notes

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Good morning.

I’d like to talk to you today about recycling.

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So what does it mean? Why does recycling matter?

Or to put it another way, why should YOU recycle, and make a difference in YOUR world?

Well, how much stuff do you put in the bin each day? Not much? Just a few wrappers? (Show bin bag of rubbish).

It all adds up: This is just some of my week’s rubbish. On average, every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks. That’s a lot of rubbish!

So where does it all go? What happens to the rubbish you don’t recycle?

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It ends up here. Most rubbish that is not recycled ends up being buried in a landfill site, like this one. There are approximately 800 active landfill sites in the UK, and we need more and more to cope with the amount of rubbish we throw out.

Once they’re buried in a landfill site, some things like paper, card and food start to rot down (anaerobically), producing methane - a powerful greenhouse gas, and a toxic liquid called leachate. Other things, like plastic, cans and glass, don’t easily rot away - they’ll be there for hundreds, or even thousands of years.

…and that’s a real waste. Here’s why:

Think about the things you throw away.

• It might have been a can or bottle that contained your favourite drink,• Or maybe it was a magazine you enjoyed,• Or the can that your favourite body spray came in.

Getting that can, bottle or magazine to you took a lot of effort. The raw materials used to make them had to be extracted, processed and transported, which takes a lot of energy, and uses up the earth’s natural resources.

If you put them in the bin when you’ve finished with them, no-one will ever get the benefit from those materials again.

So it’s a waste because new raw materials have to be used to make more cans, glass and paper and it’s a waste because landfill sites take up valuable space that could be used for something else.

So the question is, why recycle instead? Why does putting your waste in one bin, instead of another, make a difference?

Well, here’s why.

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Recycling transforms things. It’s all about making something old into something new so that you can enjoy them again and again.

What happens to your recycling after you’ve put it into your recycling bin? It gets:• Taken to a recycling factory• Shredded into tiny pieces, melted down, or pulped• Re-made into something new, so you can enjoy things again, and again.

Here’s some examples: • Old writing paper can be recycled to make your new toilet roll.• An old steel can can be recycled to make part of your new bike.• Empty plastic bottles can be recycled to make a new fleece hat or jacket.

Most of the things you might think of as rubbish could actually still have value; so before we just throw things away we should stop and think.

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Recycling conserves resources.

Making things from raw materials uses scarce natural resources. For example to make an aluminium can, someone has got to: • dig up raw materials (which can damage natural habitats), • Transport the raw materials to factories (often 1000s of miles away), • Process the raw materials to make aluminium products, like cans,• Distribute the product to retailers.• This process uses energy and creates emissions

(You might like to hold up a can whist you are talking)

If you throw your old can in the bin instead of recycling it, this process has to be repeated again and again, using more and more natural resources.

But if you recycle your old can you help to conserve natural resources and benefit the environment.

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Recycling also saves energy.

Recycling uses less energy than making things from scratch. For example, recycling an aluminium can saves 95% of the energy needed to make a completely new can.

Making glass bottles and jars from recycled glass, rather than from raw materials also saves energy. The energy saving from recycling just one bottle or jar will:• Power a Nintendo Wii for 5 hours• Power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour• Power a computer for 20 minutes• Power a colour TV for 15 minutes• Power a washing machine for 10 minutes

(You might like to invite students to guess the answers to some of the above facts)

It might not sound much. But last year an average home in the UK used over 330 glass bottles and jars in a year. And just think of how many homes there are…

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So when we recycle, we need to use less new raw materials, less energy and less landfill and this means that less greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere; so recycling helps to tackle climate change.

Climate Change is a change in global weather patterns, especially increases in temperature and storm activity, regarded as a potential consequence of the greenhouse effect

If every person in England recycled just one more glossy magazine every week we’d save over 1,000,000 tonnes of CO2. That’s the same as taking over 320,000 cars off the roads for a year.

(You might like to hold up a magazine)

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So now you know how important recycling is and that each action really does make a difference. But do you know exactly what you can recycle and where to find recycling facilities locally?

{If your school has recycling facilities, show the recycling container you use at school; if your school does not have recycling facilities, show the recycling container most of the students would have at home.}

Do you know where the recycling points are in our school?

{Have a range of items that can and cannot be recycled in the recycling bin you are showing.

(Please contact your recycling service provider if you would like more information on what can and can’t be recycled at your school; or check out the postcode locator at www.recyclenow.com for information on what can be recycled at home in your local area).

Do you know what can be recycled

You might want to hold up a selection of items and ask students to shout out “recycle” if it can be recycled at school or “bin” if it cannot be recycled at school}.

Do you know where you can recycle in your local community?

(you might want to encourage students to think about recycling banks and the types of thins you can recycle in them, e,g, clothes)

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This is YOUR world and it’s up to all of us to do our bit to tackle climate change, conserve resources and protect the environment.

The amount of rubbish thrown away by homes in the UK every day is enough to fill 190 Olympic sized swimming pools and weighs as much as 12,000 elephants and that’s a real waste

When you bin things, you’re filling up a landfill site around here. You’re wasting the natural resources and energy that went into making the items we use. And that has consequences.

But if you recycle instead, then you’re helping to:• re-use valuable materials again and again• save energy and natural resources• preserve environments all over the world• reduce the amount we bury in landfill sites• reduce our contribution to climate change

So remember:

There are lots of things we can all do to recycle more. Recycling is important and your actions really do make a big difference!

So next time you’re holding something that you need to throw away, stop and think for a moment. Think about the difference you want to make in the world, if you make the choice to recycle.

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Assembly presentation notes SLIDE 1 - Birmingham · Assembly presentation notes PAGE 3 OF 9 It ends up here. Most rubbish that is not recycled ends up being buried in a landfill site,