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Core ‘Recycling’ topic resources

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Related Special Dates

♻️ Zero Waste Week

Zero Waste Week is an annual campaign in the UK that promotes waste reduction and encourages individuals, businesses, and communities to reduce the amount of waste they produce. Launched in 2008 by environmentalist Rachelle Strauss, the campaign takes place every first full week of September. The goal is to raise awareness about waste issues and inspire people to make more sustainable choices, thereby reducing their environmental impact.

Key Aspects of Zero Waste Week:

1. Purpose:

   • The campaign focuses on minimising waste in various forms, including food waste, single-use plastics, and packaging, as well as encouraging recycling and reusing materials. It aims to help participants live a more eco-friendly lifestyle by reducing what they send to landfill.

2. Community and Business Involvement:

   • Zero Waste Week involves not just individuals but also businesses, schools, and organisations that commit to taking practical steps towards sustainability. Participants pledge to reduce waste, engage in eco-friendly practices, and spread awareness.

3. Educational Focus:

   • Throughout the week, educational materials, tips, and online events are shared to help people understand the importance of waste reduction and how they can make small changes that lead to big environmental benefits. Topics covered range from reducing food waste to cutting down on single-use plastics.

4. Themes:

   • Each year, Zero Waste Week focuses on a specific theme, such as food waste, plastic pollution, or sustainable living, to target particular environmental issues and offer tailored solutions.

5. Global Reach:

   • While it started in the UK, Zero Waste Week has gained international traction, with participants from around the world joining the movement to reduce waste and live more sustainably.

Why It Matters: Zero Waste Week highlights the increasing problem of landfill waste and the environmental damage caused by excessive consumption and improper waste management. By encouraging everyday actions and sustainable habits, it promotes long-term change in how we handle waste.

♻️ Recycle Week

Recycle Week is an annual event in the UK that promotes recycling awareness and encourages people to recycle more effectively. Organised by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) under their Recycle Now campaign, it aims to engage communities, businesses, and individuals across the UK to highlight the importance of recycling in protecting the environment and reducing waste.

Purpose and Objectives of Recycle Week:

1. Raising Awareness: The main goal is to increase public awareness about recycling practices, what materials can be recycled, and how recycling benefits the environment.

2. Encouraging Behaviour Change: Recycle Week focuses on inspiring positive changes in people’s recycling habits, urging them to recycle more and to recycle correctly (avoiding contamination like food waste mixed with recyclables).

3. Promoting Sustainability: The event connects recycling efforts to broader environmental issues like climate change, emphasising the role individuals and communities play in creating a more sustainable future.

When is Recycle Week?

Recycle Week takes place annually, usually in the last week of September. The specific dates vary, but it typically runs for seven days, during which events, campaigns, and initiatives are held nationwide.

Activities and Campaigns During Recycle Week:

1. Local and National Campaigns: WRAP, in collaboration with local councils, businesses, and organisations, launches various educational campaigns. These include posters, social media challenges, and information sessions to teach people about correct recycling habits.

2. Community Events: Many councils and community groups organise local events such as recycling workshops, street clean-ups, and recycling drop-off points for hard-to-recycle items.

3. Business Involvement: Businesses often get involved by promoting recycling within the workplace, providing resources for employees, and partnering with WRAP to spread the message to their customers.

   
   

Impact and Importance:

• Boosting Recycling Rates: Recycle Week has been successful in increasing recycling rates across the UK, motivating people to be more conscious about their waste habits and recycle more household items like plastics, paper, and glass.

• Public Engagement: By making recycling visible and engaging through events, social media, and community involvement, Recycle Week helps to keep the conversation around recycling and sustainability active throughout the year.

Recycle Week serves as a pivotal moment for the UK to come together and take action toward a greener future by making small but impactful changes in daily recycling habits.

♻️World Refill Day

World Refill Day is a global day of action celebrated annually on June 16th. Organised by City to Sea, a UK-based environmental charity, this day encourages people around the world to choose to reuse and to make it easier to live with less waste. It promotes the idea of refilling reusable bottles, coffee cups, and containers for food and other products, instead of buying single-use plastics.

The main educational thrust of World Refill Day for EYFS and KS1 children is to foster an early understanding of environmental responsibility, particularly around reducing waste and protecting our planet from plastic pollution. It introduces the simple concept of "reuse" as a positive action they can take, helping them to recognise the problem of too much rubbish and how they can be part of the solution. It connects their daily actions to a bigger global issue, encouraging a sense of stewardship for the Earth.

Activities for EYFS and KS1 Practitioners and Parents:

Here are some engaging and age-appropriate activities to celebrate World Refill Day and teach children about reducing waste:

• "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" Song/Rhyme: Teach children a simple song or rhyme about the "3 Rs" (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Focus heavily on "Reuse" for this day.

• Reusable Bottle/Cup Decorating: Encourage children to decorate their own reusable water bottles or cups with stickers, markers, or paint. This makes their reusable items special and encourages them to use them.

• "Refill Station" Role Play: Set up a pretend "refill station" where children can "refill" their empty toy bottles or containers with water, beads, or other safe materials. Discuss how real shops are starting to have refill stations.

• Plastic Pollution Awareness (Age-Appropriate): Show children pictures of animals that can be harmed by plastic litter (e.g., birds tangled in plastic, fish eating tiny pieces of plastic). Emphasise that by choosing reusable items, we are helping to keep animals safe and their homes clean.

• "What Can We Reuse?" Scavenger Hunt: Look around the classroom or home for items that can be reused instead of thrown away. Examples: empty toilet rolls for crafts, plastic containers for storage, old clothes for dress-up.

• Crafts from Recycled/Reused Materials: Provide clean, empty plastic bottles, cardboard tubes, fabric scraps, and other "junk modelling" materials. Challenge children to create something new from them, demonstrating that old items can have a new purpose.

• "Water Saving" & "Tap Water Tastes Great" Discussion: Talk about the importance of drinking tap water to stay healthy and how it saves plastic bottles. You could even do a simple taste test of tap water vs. bottled water (ensure hygiene!).

• Visit a Local Refill Shop (or watch a video): If there's a local refill shop nearby, you could visit it (with permission and supervision) to see how it works. If not, watch a short, child-friendly video online showing people refilling containers.

• Story Time about the Environment: Read picture books that highlight environmental themes, looking after the Earth, or reducing waste (e.g., "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss, "Somebody Swallowed Stanley" by Sarah Roberts, or "Clean Up!" by Nathan Bryon).

• Litter Picking (Safe & Supervised): If appropriate and with strict supervision, undertake a very small, supervised litter pick in a safe area, focusing on plastic items. Discuss how these items can be reused or recycled. Always wear gloves and use appropriate tools.

Official World Refill Day / City to Sea Website: For more information, resources, and to find out how to get involved, please visit the official World Refill Day website, run by City to Sea: www.refill.org.uk/world-refill-day/

♻️Global Recycling Day

Global Recycling Day was created in 2018 by The Global Recycling Foundation to help recognise, and celebrate, the importance recycling plays in preserving our precious primary resources and securing the future of our planet. It is a day for the world to come together and put the planet first.

As well as getting children thinking about not being wasteful Global Recycling Day also presents an opportunity to introduce ideas about different materials and their properties. Lots of real-life objects, boxes, tins, bottles, etc can be used in sessions to encourage learning using a variety of senses!

More ‘Environment’ themed topics & special dates you may be interested in…

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