Posts Tagged ‘recycling’
-
Matthew Hensby: my volunteering experience
By Climate Squad volunteer photographer and reporter, Matthew HensbyIn December of 2009 I was given the chance to travel to Fiji and work for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a Communications Officer for six months.
I have always wanted to travel to a field office of a major conservation NGO to get a better understanding of how these organisations address the issues they publicise and how they make use of the money people donate – this was a great opportunity!
I have to admit, I have not always been a ‘volunteer’, but a wise friend of mine once said something to me that completely changed my outlook on the idea.
“Unfortunately I’m poor and don’t have any money to donate to good causes. But one thing I do have a lot of is time , so I donate that instead.”
I thought that it was a great outlook. Not everyone can afford to give their money away to charity but, for those who want to help, volunteering your time and expertise can be a HUGE help!
In Fiji I have had the opportunity to learn and participate in so many unbelievable projects – it has been an education. Being able to attend project and field work deep in Fiji I have had the opportunity to experience the country like I would never had been able to before.
Spending weeks living with families in the rain forest, giving workshops in turtle conservation, monitoring coral reefs 30m below the surface, seeing my conservation advice adopted by Fijian government, securing funding for future project work, visiting the Solomon Islands – it’s been magical!
Although Fiji was my first taste of volunteering it certainly won’t be my last. For me, the best thing about volunteering is that, no matter where you are or what you enjoy, there will always be someone who needs your help – music, sports, art, conservation, film, education, policy, a specific industry, anything!
-
Bexley Council reduces it’s environmental impact even further!
We were really pleased to hear that Bexley Borough Council is trying to reduce the amount of waste that they sent to landfill. The borough is already streets ahead of others, having already reached its 2020 target of recycling 50% of all waste, and they are determined to improve on even this!
Provided the Council Cabinet approves the borough’s plans, they will start sending their non-recyclable waste to an ‘Energy from Waste Facility’ which would not only divert the waste from landfill, but also generate green electricity.
A big well done to the residents of Bexley for their recycling efforts, and also to the Borough Council for trying to improve on an already impressive acheivment!
-
The future of packaging
The Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has recently published a new strategy, Making the Most of Packaging which aims to decrease the environmental impact of packaging - this could have a really positive impact.
There have already been big successes in recycling grocery packaging waste; in 1997 only 28% of the U.K’s packaging waste was recycled, but this has now gone up to 61%, saving over 8.9 millions tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions. The aim is to increase this even further by 2010, a really acheivable target, and one we can all be involved in helping to reach.
Defra are aiming to improve in two different categories, the first is changing the way in which packaging is produced and used, which can be done by promoting refillable and reusable packaging, increasing eco design and raising consumer awareness, among other things.
The second category is increasing recycling, which can be done by persuading packaging producers to invest more, by improving recycling rates for each of the main packing materials (such as glass, aluminium and plastics) and by encouraging businesses and local authorities to treat recycling as a source of potential revenue.
If you want to read the whole of Defra’s strategy, and to see what changes they’re planning on making, you can find it online at Defra
Recent comments: