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Hey Kids it’s Time to Take Action

Think before you throw things away.

A golden rule for reducing waste is to NEVER throw away

anything that can be used again. If an item can be used again

for the same purpose or for something new, then REUSE it!!

Items that are generally used only once, like plastic bags,

should be avoided.

Stamp out Waste

Why say NO to plastic?

� In NZ we use more than 800 million plastic bags a year.

Most of these end up in the landfill where they take up

space and can last for up to 1000 years.

� Plastic bags kill farm animals, fish and other wildlife when

swallowed.

� Plastic litters our towns and pollutes our environment.

� Oil is the raw material for making plastic. We should

avoid unnecessary use of plastic to help save the limited

remaining world oil supplies.

� Plastic bags are not easily recycled.

Break the Waste Cycle The Key?

Rethink

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle

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The Reusable Bag Challenge for kids

You have been given your very own reusable cotton bag. It is

for you to keep to use in any way you wish: as a book bag, a

sports bag, a shopping bag or to give to your mum for her

shopping.

You can decorate this bag in any way you like

� Paint on it

� Make a collage on it using recycled materials

� Lino print it

� Batik on it

You can decorate it following an environmental theme or

whatever takes your fancy!

REMEMBER. . . . . .

this bag is for you to REUSE instead of plastic.

Promoting the Reusable Bag Idea

Your school may like to promote the use of

reusable bags, by running a “BAG Design”

competition. Each child in your school can

design a logo for a bag and the winning logo can

then be printed onto the bags, which can then be used as a

school bag. This can also be used as a fundraiser for your

school.

The bags can be used to educate your community about the

environment and the 4 R’s. (Rethink. Reuse, Reduce, recycle)

Bag designs can be developed around a special day like “Clean

up the Beach” day and used to promote keeping your town

clean. Profits from the bag sales go back into your school.

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Designing Your School Fundraising Bag Simple Steps to Follow

� Develop a catchy logo design on a piece of paper first

(use only 1-2 colours if the design is to be printed onto

bags as this reduces cost)

� Have the design printed onto your own style of bag

� Sell bags to friends, family and shops in your town.

� Write a report for your local newspaper telling what your

school is doing with the bags, why and where bags can be

purchased.

You have Made a Difference

Quote:

“If you think you are too small to make a

difference, try going to bed with a mosquito”. (Anita Roddick from The Body Shop)

Sometimes you may think that you are too small to make a

difference, but you are not.

How many plastic shopping bags does your family use every

week?………………………………………………………………………………………………………

If you and every child in your school and their families stop

using plastic think how many bags will be prevented from going

into the landfill.

Enjoy decorating and using your bags and thank you for your

efforts in trying to make a difference to our world.

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Remember:

I would like to see all your beautifully decorated bags and

would like to know how you are using them. So please send me

photos. You might like to also write a letter to Solid Energy to

thank them for sponsoring your lovely bags.

Some ideas for my bag decoration???

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Lets Talk About Reducing Waste

Today’s young people are a driving force in

waste reduction efforts. In many homes it is

you young children who get the family involved

in rethinking, reducing, reusing and recycling,

and it is you who keep it going.

Ever wondered where all that rubbish goes

when the rubbish bags are collected from your kerbside?

Where do you think it goes?

Draw a picture

Landfills

What is a landfill?

Why do you think it is important to reduce our rubbish that

enters the landfill?

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Our landfills are where all the rubbish that we throw away

goes. Our landfills are running out of time. We are all sending

so much rubbish to the landfills that they are becoming full too

quickly. Landfills cost HUGE amounts of money to replace, so

we need to look after them.

What can YOU do to make our landfills last longer?

Write down all the things that you put in your rubbish bin.

Now re-think and for each item of “rubbish” that you wrote

down think how this can be reused or recycled.

Can you see how WASTE is now no longer waste but a

RESOURCE to be made into something useful?

WASTE IS THE RESULT OF A FAILURE TO THINK.

Why does nature not have any waste? Draw two things that

nature uses to turn things into something else.

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Reducing Waste at School

You can start a waste reduction programme at home and school.

Learn what items are recycled in your town, and then do your

BEST to recycle them.

Find out what items can be recycled in your local area?

List them here.

With your help in the Reusable Bag Challenge you can change

the way your family, your school and your local community think

about their use of plastic bags and waste and help them move

towards bringing their own reusable bag every time they go

shopping.

If each one of your families uses just one cotton bag each

week up to 3 plastic bags are saved from entering the landfill.

Think how many plastic bags this will be over a year if every

family stopped using plastic bags completely.

Remember most plastic bags are not recycled

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Steps you can take to help reduce waste

1. Set an example and encourage your family and friends to

reduce plastic bag use for shopping. If you do use a

plastic bag try to reuse it several times before putting it

in the rubbish.

2. Encourage your family and school to use old newspapers

to line rubbish bins instead of plastic bags.

3. Learn the facts about reducing waste in your school and

home and then take action to help your community reduce

waste.

4. Remember that plastic bags are just one small part of the

4 R’s. It is one step towards reducing waste. Think about

other ways that you can reduce waste at home, at school

and what you can reuse and what you can do to recycle.

List some ideas for reusing plastic bags.

The best way to make a difference to the planet is to

make changes in your own local area - your home, your

school, your town.

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The Rubbish Monster

Why don’t you and your classmates create your own Rubbish

Monster with all the rubbish in your classroom?

Steps to Create a Rubbish Monster!

� Keep all food waste and scraps separate from all other

waste in your classroom

� Using wire coat hangers create the outline of a stick

person.

� Every time you have paper or plastic waste in your

classroom stick it onto your rubbish wire monster.

� After one week see if you have had enough rubbish to

make your monster

Remember the smaller your monster the better.

Why? Because this means you are making less waste in your

classrooms.

Keep your rubbish monster in your classroom as a reminder

to make less waste.

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Lets get informed about. . . . .

Plastic

Did you know? � “Plastic” comes from the Greek work “Plastikos” which

means mouldable. Plastic is a material that can be

moulded into a shape and set.

� Oil and natural gas are the raw materials used to make

plastic.

Fun facts about plastic � 50% (that is half) of the plastic packaging sent to New

Zealand landfills is imported.

� Every New Zealander uses about 31kg of plastic

packaging every year and only 5.58kg is recycled?

� Plastic recycling has more than doubled over the last 7

years.

� In 2002 New Zealanders recycled 30,190 tonnes of

plastic.

� About 19,0000 tonnes of plastic enters the NZ rubbish

stream every year.

� By volume plastics take up about 20% of the landfill space

but only make up 7% of the waste stream by weight.

Lets Talk Litter Did you know that plastics make up only 7% of the NZ rubbish

in landfills by weight? Plastic is not biodegradable. (Look this

word up in a dictionary if you don’t know the meaning).

It just lasts and lasts. Plastic is basically inert (look this word

up too!) so it doesn’t break down in landfills. It just takes up

space.

Biodegradable means

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Inert means

So why do you think we see plastic everywhere?

Plastic is so light that it blows around easily. The very reason

that it is so good for products, it is light and durable (look this

word up), make it such a litter problem.

Be responsible for and proud of your neighbourhood

Name five things you can do with a plastic drink bottle.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Plastic is not yet recycled on the West Coast. List as many

ideas as you can to reduce the plastic waste going to our

landfills.

Ideas List

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Heres what you can do to reduce plastic � Recycle whatever plastic you can

� Throw plastic that you can’t recycle into a rubbish bin.

� Pick up plastic and other rubbish if you see it lying around

the roads, beach or the playground (hopefully this never

happens in your school) and put it in the rubbish bin.

� Never leave rubbish anywhere other than a rubbish bin.

Draw a Picture about recycling

Think global

Act Local

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Plastic Identification Code Symbols

Fill in the information about the 4 most common types of

plastic

Name of plastic Products made Recycled in

from this plastic which products?

Where do you look for the plastic symbols?

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Find out any other interesting information you can about

plastic. You might like to check out www.plastics.org.nz

What a PET T-shirt! Have you ever wandered what happens to plastic

drink bottles when they are recycled?

Did you know that they are recycled into T-shirts,

shoe laces, toys, carpets, fiberfill for sleeping bags

and jackets, park benches and bookmarkers.

There are hundreds and hundreds of things made

from recycled PET plastic.

You might be asking yourself

What is PET? PET is short for Polyethylene Terephthalate.

Now that’s a mouthful! Plastic drink bottles, some

detergent bottles, plastic peanut jars and many

other containers are made of PET plastic.

How can you tell if a container is made

of PET? Check the symbol at the bottom of the container.

Check out the Plastic Identification Code for the

PET symbol and look for the number 1.

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PET Fun Facts � The first PET bottle was recycled in 1977

� The average household generates about 42kg of PET bottles

every year.

� 5 PET bottles produce enough fibre to make an extra large T-

shirt

� It takes 25 2litre PET bottles to make a sweater

� It takes 35 2 litre PET bottles to make enough fibrefill for a

sleeping bag

� When buried some plastic bottles may last for 700 years.

How many products can you think of that are made from

plastic or contain plastic?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What clothing do you wear that is made from plastic?

Name 5 good things about plastic

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Name 5 bad things about plastic

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Make it with Plastic Here are some fun things that you and your class can

make with plastic drink bottles.

A Piggy Bank

With your plastic drink bottles you can

create your very own piggy bank. You will

need

� 1 plastic drink bottle (big or small)

� 4 plastic drink bottle tops

� Paper and paint for decoration

� Glue

1. Glue the bottle tops to the side of the plastic

bottle for feet.

2. Cut a slot in the top of the bottle opposite the feet.

Ask an adult to help you do this. Make sure the slot

is wide enough to insert money.

3. Decorate with paint and paper or any item that you

wish to recycle!

Make Your Very Own Bubbles � 1 x 2-litre plastic bottle

� Scissors

� Masking tape

� 4 cups of water

� 12 teaspoons glycerine

� 8 teaspoons liquid green soap or dishwashing

liquid

1. Wrap a piece of masking tape around the bottle,

about 10cm from the top.

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2. Ask an adult to help you cut along the bottom edge

of the masking tape. Recycle the bottom of the

bottle and discard the bottle lid.

3. Remove the masking tape from the bottle. This is

your bubble blower! You are now ready to make the

bubble solution.

4. In a large bowl mix together water, glycerine and

green soap.

5. Pour the solution into a container large enough to

dip the cut end of your bottle.

6. Dip the cut end of your bubble blower into the

solution. Place the small end up to your mouth and

blow bubbles!

Note: Your bubble blower can be used as a bubble wand – just

dip in solution and gently wave the bubble blower around in the

air.

It is good to reduce rubbish!

It is good to reuse as much as possible.

It is good to recycle whatever we can.

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What Happens to ALL that Recycled Plastic?

Plastic containers are brought

to the recycling centre where

they are sorted by type and

by colour. They are crushed

together and formed into a

huge cube or bale.

The bales of plastic are

shipped to a plastics

processing plant. A lot of

plastic in New Zealand is put

into containers and shipped

overseas to Asia for recycling.

The plastic is broken apart

and shredded into flakes or

pellets and then cleaned.

The flakes or pellets are

shipped to manufacturers of

plastic goods.

The manufacturer melts the

plastic flakes or pellets in

machines at very high

temperatures. When it is

melted it is moulded into new

products like:

Fibrefill for sleeping bags and

pillows, pot plant containers,

toys, compost bins, rulers,

T-shirts!

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Paper The history of paper dates back almost 2000

years ago to when inventors in China first

made cloth sheets to record their drawings

and writings. Until then people communicated

through pictures and symbols etched on

stone, bones, cave walls or clay tablets.

See if you can find out some interesting facts about the

history of paper. Write them down.

Where does paper come from?

Wood you believe it?

More than 5000 things are made from trees.

Name some tree products that your family uses?

Some clues

� paper products

� hardwood products

� tree bark

� tree extracts

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Question?

What does a book, a guitar, chewing gum and a glass of

orange juice have in common?

Important facts about trees We depend on trees? True/false

� Trees are our breathing partners. You

may not live in a forest but you need trees

to survive. People and animals depend on trees and other

plants for oxygen. As you breathe in your body uses

oxygen (O2). As you breathe out you give off carbon

dioxide (CO2). Trees do just the opposite. They take in

CO2 then release O2, which helps clean the air.

� Trees also help to cool the earth. They give off moisture

and this creates rain. All living things need water to live.

About 70% of a person’s body is water and about 70% of

a tree is water. Even the earth is 70% water! So trees

act like huge pumps to cycle water up from the soil and

back into the air.

� We eat the many fruits and nuts from trees

� We use wood from trees for building houses, furniture

and for heating.

� We use trees for making paper for our books, magazines

and a lot of packaging.

How many kinds of New Zealand trees can you name?

Answer: Yes… they are all made possible from trees.

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Name some food items that come from trees.

What happens when forests are destroyed?

In many parts of the world large rain

forests are being cut down and soil

erosion occurs. Once trees are cut

down there are no roots to hold the

soil in place. When it rains, the soil

flows downhill into streams and lakes

and eventually into the sea where it sinks down to the

bottom and covers up algae and small plants that fish eat.

The forest ecosystem is disturbed and many creatures

lose their habitat.

There are fewer trees to give off oxygen for us to

breathe.

Making paper from trees uses a lot of water. After the

water is used in the paper making factories it is full of

toxic chemicals and not safe to go back into the local

waterways without being cleaned up first.

Decomposers, like bugs, worms, mushrooms and bacteria,

are nature’s recyclers. When a tree dies, decomposers

feed on the dead bark and leaves and turn the old tree

into soil, which allows new plants to grow. If trees are cut

down and hauled away to make paper and other products

decomposers are left exposed in the sun with very little

to eat and they can die off.

Did you know?

It takes 7 pine trees to make 10,000 newspapers

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If 20,000 newspapers are printed every day on the West

Coast, how many trees is that for one week? (show your

calculations)

Tree trivia

Forests cover almost a third of the world’s

land area

Arbor day is a special day when people learn

about the importance of trees and plants and care

for trees

About 1.5 million tons of cacao beans, from

the tropical cacao tree, are used each year to make

chocolate and cocoa products. That’s more than the

weight of 300 000 elephants!

By reusing and recycling your used paper, you can help

conserve a very important renewable resource – trees.

True or false? The rubber for bicycle tyres comes from trees?..

True/False Which tree?…………………………………………………

Cinnamon is actually the inner bark of the Cinnamon tree?

True/False

Rayon, a fabric used in today’s clothes, is made from

wood? True/False

Sandalwood is a valuable wood prized for its aroma?

True/False

Ice cream, shampoo and toothpaste all contain a

wood fibre called cellulose? True/False

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Recycled paper

Question: What is paper made out of? How do

you recycle paper?

Answer:

Paper is made from cellulose, which is in plant fibres. Cutting

down trees and then grinding them up and dumping the wood

pulp in acid to make the cellulose. Not a pretty picture is it?

Cutting down trees is not a good thing for the planet.

Recycling uses cellulose over and over again. Recycled paper can

be made with less electricity, less water, less pollution and it

saves trees from being cut down. Recycling paper needs 30

times less energy than making new paper and it leaves no waste.

List below some paper items that you can recycle

We don’t want paper dumped!

We want to Recycle

Making recycled paper yourself is lots of fun too. Here is how

you can make you own recycled paper.

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Make your own Recycled paper Making recycled paper is messy but it is also

lots of fun! Someone will have to use a food

processor and an electric iron. Both can be

dangerous so make sure you get help from an

adult when doing this project.

You need:

2 full newspaper pages torn into 5cm squares

food processor

electric iron

2 tablespoons white glue

2-3 cups of water

sink with about 10cm water

old pantyhose

coat hangers

Optional: insect screen, strainer, food colouring, dryer lint

Step 1

The frame:

Undo the coat hanger and make a flat square about 12cm x

12cm. Tape the edges to avoid snagging the pantyhose. Stretch

the pantyhose over it. Make sure it is tight and flat. You will

need one frame for every piece of paper you make.

Step 2

Put a handful of paper into the food processor and blend with

some water. Keep adding paper and water until you have a big

grey blob. You may have to add a little more water to keep

things processing smoothly. Keep the food processor on until all

the paper has disappeared. Then blend it for 2 whole minutes.

Put the glue in the sink water and add all of the paper pulp you

just made. Mix it really well. Use your hands.

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Mix up the sink water again and then scoop the frame to the

bottom of the sink. Lift it slowly. Count to 20 while you slowly

lift it out. Let the water drain out for about a minute. Mix up

the sink every time you make a new piece.

Step 3

Now you have to hang the frame on a clothesline or put them in

the sun. Wait until they are completely dry with no dampness

at all. You can then gently peel off the paper.

Have a grown up use the iron on the hottest setting to steam

out your paper. You can keep making paper until the pulp is all

strained out of the sink.

See how strong your paper is. Trim it with scissors if you like.

You can try adding food colouring to the food processor or tea

to colour your paper.

Enjoy and have fun making and writing on your own recycled

paper.

Help save our planet

Rethink Reduce Reuse Recycle

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Cotton Cotton is a natural fibre. Unlike plastic it is

not man made. Cotton farmers in countries

around the world grow Cotton from seed.

Cotton Knowledge

1. In which countries is cotton grown?

2. Find out about how cotton is grown?

Draw the lifecycle of cotton from the time the seeds are

planted to the time you get a cotton T-shirt.

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3. Environmentalists disagree about cotton. Why do you

think this is so?

Find out some other interesting facts about cotton.

This booklet has been printed on recycled paper using environmentally

friendly inks.