First published: 15/03/2024 -
Last updated: 21/03/2024 -
Verified by our Editorial Panel
Recycling enterprise & charity revamps its Education Room for children
A repair and re-use centre in Newport is remodelling and updating its interactive recycling Education Room for primary school children.
Wastesavers, based in Newport, began as an environmental charity, promoting the importance of reuse and recycling. It started collecting materials from the kerbside in 1990, today preventing over 1,000 tonnes of household items from going into landfill each year, and has been educating school children on recycling for more than a decade.
Operating across South East Wales, it runs a network of re-use shops, two repair cafes, a nappy library, library of things, the recycling Education Room for primary schools, and an alternative education programme – PEAK – for 14-18 year olds outside of mainstream education.
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How do enterprises like these help us make green choices?
Wastesavers has been running its Education Room facility for over 10 years, encouraging green skills by educating primary school children on recycling. Two-hour sessions are run by experienced teachers and are crafted to meet each school’s curriculum needs.
The room is currently being updated and refurbished to make a truly interactive experience for little visitors, bringing scientific, technical and mathematical topics to life with familiar materials the children encounter day-to-day. They will discover the stories of recyclable materials, like metal, plastic and cardboard, interacting with the education ‘pods’ as they learn. Children can also visit the Viewing Platform to see Wastesavers’ recycling in action.
This new facility will welcome schools from all local authorities that Wastesavers works with.
Charity Manager of Wastesavers, Alun Harries, said:
We found that all the schools we engage with are very proactive with their recycling – pupils fully understand the importance of recycling and the impact on their communities and the environment. Our Education Room underpins the schools’ approach and provides further understanding of what actually happens to the paper, plastic, cans etc. that they put in their household recycling, and how these materials go on to become something else.
Wastesavers staff also visit schools to help their Eco Committees run insightful assemblies on recycling.
Why take action?
Alun said:
We feel it is vitally important that the children, indeed, all generations, have a good knowledge of what happens to their recycling. And that they have an appreciative understanding of how the recycling process works, as well as the positive impact it has on the planet.
Climate Change Minister, Julie James, said:
Organisations like Wastesavers are a great way of helping young people learn how to take action to reduce their impact on the climate. And this will go a long way to helping us to create a greener, cleaner Wales.
What is Wales doing?
Wales is already the best in the UK for recycling, and the third best in the world, saving around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.
