Involve Your Students in Zero Waste Week
In honour of Zero Waste Week, I’ve written a short piece about how you can involve your students in promoting recycling and sustainable living in the classroom. This article will focus on the three R’s of Recycling – Reduce, Reuse and Recycling. I hope you find it helpful! Please share this article with other students and teachers! You can join the Zero Waste movement by starting today’s school campaign regardless of where you live.
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Zero Waste Week: Students
Zero Waste Week is an annual campaign that takes place in the UK. It was founded by Rachelle Strauss in 2008 and has since become a global movement that aims to raise awareness about waste’s environmental impact and encourage individuals and businesses to reduce the amount of waste they generate.
Zero Waste Week typically takes place during the first week of September each year and involves a range of activities and events, such as online workshops, social media campaigns, and community events. The campaign encourages participants to take a “zero waste pledge” and to adopt new habits and practices that reduce their waste and environmental footprint.
The Zero Waste Week campaign has successfully raised awareness about waste reduction and inspired individuals and businesses to take action to reduce their waste. It has also helped to promote the idea of a circular economy, where waste is minimized and resources are used more efficiently.
Zero Waste Week: Reduce
The idea of reducing waste during Zero Waste Week is to raise public awareness of the environment’s effects on our waste stream. This week-long event encourages individuals, businesses, and organisations to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The Zero Waste community and Ambassadors are critical to this movement. Read on for tips to help you reduce waste during Zero Waste Week. Whether shopping for groceries or making home improvements, it’s easy to reduce waste this week.
As part of Zero Waste Week, consider making changes in your routine. Instead of throwing away everything you use, try composting your recyclable items. If you’re unable to compost your organic waste, donate it to your local food bank. Besides helping the environment, you’ll feel better about yourself for reducing your waste!
Start by following the simple steps below. One example of a restaurant that goes “zero waste” is Seven Market Cafe. The cafe replaced single-use items with dispensers and started a “Little Mug Library” with biodegradable paper cups. Its staff also donates excess food from their kitchen to the homeless. By reducing waste, you can save a lot of money on groceries while also doing your part for the environment.
Zero Waste Week: Recycle
Recycling during zero waste week means reducing your waste. To participate, you must separate household waste into several types, such as plastics, batteries, and paper. You can also find recycling centres that accept e-waste and hard plastics. You can also find recycling bins for pens and electric toothbrush heads at your local Terracycle. There are also many other ways to recycle during zero waste week. The biggest obstacle to zero waste is locating the infrastructure to do so.
- If you can’t find a recycling bin, consider buying loose produce and food in bulk. Markets also offer loose produce and in-house bakeries and delis.
- You can significantly dent landfill waste by bringing your containers and saving money and space.
- Recyclable plastic products can even help with food waste by reducing packaging. Students for Zero Waste Week is an intensive one. It’s like boot camp for your bins!
- Using the app Litterati to document the litter hotspots in your community, you’ll know where to recycle.
Do not put it a General Waste bin: |
Do put in a General Waste bin:
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Any recyclable material such as paper, cards, tin cans and plastic |
Office waste that cannot be recycled, e.g. laminated paper
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Paint |
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Building materials |
Disposable cloth, paper or plastic items
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Soil and rubble |
Decontaminated media or labware
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Electrical items |
Styrofoam, bottles and cans which cannot be recycled
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Lose ash or vacuum cleaner dust (put this waste in plastic bags and tie them to prevent spillages before |
Uncontaminated animal bedding
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Zero Waste Week: Buy in bulk
Buying in bulk can be good for the environment in several ways:
- Reduced Packaging Waste: Buying in bulk can reduce the amount of packaging waste generated since items are packaged in larger quantities. This can reduce the need for packaging materials, such as plastic or cardboard, which can contribute to environmental pollution and waste.
- Reduced Transportation Emissions: Buying in bulk can also reduce the transportation emissions associated with delivering products to stores, since fewer shipments are required to deliver the same amount of product. This can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help to mitigate climate change.
- Reduced Energy Use: Buying in bulk can also reduce the energy required to produce and transport products since it requires less energy to produce and transport a larger quantity of product than it does to produce and transport smaller quantities.
- Cost Savings: Buying in bulk can also be more cost-effective since it often results in a lower cost per unit. This can help to reduce overall consumption and waste, as consumers may be more likely to buy only what they need when it is more cost-effective to do so.
However, it’s important to note that buying in bulk may not always be the best option for the environment, particularly if it results in overconsumption or waste. Consumers should also consider the environmental impact of the products they are buying, and choose products that are sustainably produced, packaged, and transported. Additionally, consumers should consider the impact of their transportation when traveling to purchase in bulk.
Zero Waste Week – Learn more about UK business waste statistics here
Other useful links from our Commercial Waste Centre
The Benefits of Dry Mixed Recycling
Looking After Your Business Bins
Commercial Skip Hire – How to Find a Cheap Deal
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