climate changers – Newtown School

Why as a team did you choose to focus on this challenge?

We felt this issue was very current in our world today, it can affect not just us but generations to come. Plastic waste can not only make public areas less appealing but also greatly impacts sea life and our ecosystems. We knew that through implementing very simple solutions we could combat this

What do you know now about the challenge that you didn't know before?

From our research we discovered that our school had a serious lack of recycling bins. This meant that all of our rubbish went to general waste. We discovered that when a litter warden visited our school we had an unacceptable amount of waste and litter on the school grounds

What have you learnt about your Hero?

Our hero is the earth. We learned that 292.4 million tonnes of waste is thrown into landfill annually, we found out that simply by educating people to recycle and installing more bins in those localities can not only reduce the amount of waste in landfill but also reduce the amount of waste burned which minimises the amount of harmful chemicals in the air.

If you could improve one thing for your Hero what would that be?

Educating people about correct recycling practices that they can implement at home and at school. Inspire people to spread the word and help the cause. People should know the small things can make a big impact. The more people that get involved the impact of plastic pollution decreases.

Do you have any ideas for a potential solution? No matter how raw, share them with your Mentors for feedback.

We would produce a series of posters and flyers to be put up around the school educating people about the different types of plastics and what they can do to minimise their impact. Some posters would include different upcycling craft ideas they can make at home to get a different use out of single use waste such as recycling a water bottle a plant pot.

Ask your Mentor anything …. This is a chance to ask your Mentors a direct question relating to your Big Idea.

Do you see us able to combat plastic pollution, and if so how?