Superheroes and Perfect Bins

Wow, this has been a very busy and interesting week for me as an Education Officer.  On Monday morning I went to Adswood Primary school to deliver the first of our Recycling Superhero sessions.  By Wednesday afternoon I had visited five schools and spoken to 144 pupils plus their teachers – phew!!!

Perfect Bin hanger Stockport

As well as teaching the children what to recycle and why in a fun and interactive way we are also working in partnership with Stockport Council on the “Perfect Bin Competition”. 

This involves asking the pupils to explain to the rest of the key stage 2 (age 7 -11) pupils in their school what a “perfect” mixed recycling bin should contain (this is a brown bin in Stockport, other areas have different colours).  All the pupils are given a bin hanger.  They are then tasked to go home and discuss with their parents/carers what they have learnt.

They then make sure the right items go in and the wrong items such as plastic yogurt pots, margarine tubs and plastic bags stay out! They put their hanger on the bin to show that they have a “perfect” mixed recycling bin. Then the bin is put out for collection on the right day.  The crews will check the bin and the hanger will be entered into a fantastic competition to win £100 in shopping vouchers for the pupil and £1000 for the school!

These sessions have gone down really well and the pupils have enjoyed doing something different.  We explain how the pupils can become recycling superheroes and how machines with superpowers sort the recycling. However, if the wrong things go in the bin this is like Kryptonite to Superman and prevents our super machines working properly.

The feedback from the visits has been excellent with comments such as “A lovely lesson with lots of kinaesthetic learning. Activities were interesting and the children really enjoyed it”.  I have also learnt a great deal especially about some of the equipment they use in schools which may be useful for our education centres.  I feel a shopping spree coming on!

Denise Catley, Education Officer

Give us the lowdown

What a couple of weeks we have had here at R4GM HQ, we launched our Capital FM radio campaign to encourage residents of Greater Manchester to stick it in Right Bin, one lucky listener won an Ipad2, but it’s not over yet! Stay tuned  for a  further 2 Ipad2 give-aways over the next 8 weeks.

We launched our smart phone app on the android system, 85 people have downloaded the app for FREE already! What does it do? I hear you ask, well it’s a pocket rocket of information and useful tools. You can find your nearest recycling Centre, furniture re-use scheme, bike re-use project and much more.  Just go to ‘show route ‘ and hey presto you will have  a walking or driving route using GPS and Google maps, which tells you distance and time from your current location, to quote the meerkats - ‘simples’. It also offers leftover recipes at your fingertips from starters to deserts that can save you money and food waste, a double bonus.

We also had some welcome visitors from Beijing China to our state of the art facilities at Longley Lane, Sharston. In order to learn about the ground breaking way we treat waste here in Greater Manchester. The site tour included a look around the Materials Recovery Facility or ‘Murfy’ as we call it. This is the plant that sorts all of your mixed recycling into separate materials using magnets, laser eyes and other fandangled technologies. There is also a Recycling Centre at the site and a Mechanical Biological Treatment facility, which is a great alternative to landfill.

….and FINALLY our 3rd edition of the ‘I love recycling’ supplement appeared in the Manchester Evening News, jam-packed full of recycling tips, re-use activities, competitions and stories.

 What have you been up to theses past couple of weeks? Tell us your stories, we would love to hear from you. Stan Covell a resident from Bolton did just that, he got in touch on Facebook and told us about the unique way people on his street identify their bins. Stan does it Shakespeare ‘sytlee’. He writes poems and sticks them on his bin. Fantastic idea or what, intrigued well it just so happens we have the poem below:

There was a time now passed

When bottles made of glass

Once full of beer or pop

Would be returned to the shop

With a cash deposit made

When purchasing your refreshment

A cash return on the empties

Was part of your investment

But not so these days

Glass and plastic is thrown away

Discarded as worthless waste

We live in wasteful days

But glass and plastic bottles

Can be saved to be used again

Made in to new products

To serve man yet again

So it’s worth all your trouble

To sort out from the rubble

Bottles of plastic and glass

Once thrown out in the past

 It is said it’s a sin to waste

That what can be used again

So recycle all you can

To help your fellow man