Why Waste Education

 

Waste is the inevitable consequence of a society that is founded on the ever increasing consumption of goods.  Everything in today’s high street will  fill tomorrow’s landfill site - unless we act now.

The facts speak for themselves:

• We send enough waste to landfill sites in Britain to fill Elland Road stadium to the roof every single hour.
• Every day we throw away 8 million nappies - each one could take up to 500 years to rot away.
• Each year we use 17.5 billion plastic bags. 
• The amount of waste that we produce in Britain is doubling every 20 years.
• Suitable places for landfill sites within Britain have almost all been used up.
• Recycling of materials saves energy, natural landscapes and waste disposal problems.
• Understanding recycling requires a change of perception, to learn to see waste as a resource, not as rubbish.
• Waste links to the National Curriculum through science, geography, art, drama, literacy, numeracy and citizenship.

Why now?  Political Motivation:

Steps have been taken in recent years to reduce the amount of waste produced and the amount that goes to landfill:

• Government targets of reducing waste that is not re-used, recycled or composted by 45% by 2020 from its 2000 level.
• Government targets for recycling and composting - at least 40% of waste by 2010, and 45% by 2015, and 50% by 2020.

• The recycling targets for Leeds are:
  
  • By 2010 we should have recycled 30% of our waste
  • By 2015 we should have recycled 33% of our waste
• Councils failing to meet these targets will be fined
• A landfill tax has been introduced which charges by weight for waste sent to landfill
• Landfill tax will increase sharply over the next few years so that soon it will be uneconomical to send waste to landfill
• That means that sending waste to landfill will be uneconomical for schools too!