Teaching Assistant, Upcycler and gardener
The pupils of Lyng C of E Primary Academy School chose Teaching Assistant, Julie Warnes, as their Eco Angel in recognition of her hard work in recycling and running the school’s gardening club.
A report released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) earlier this year, revealed that British households create over 26m tonnes of waste each year, the weight of around 260 large cruise ships. This means that the average person in the UK throws away around 400kg of waste each year; seven times their body weight.
Of the 26m tonnes of waste produced in the UK, 12m tonnes are recycled, and 14m tonnes are sent to landfill sites. This gives us an average recycling rate of 45%. In the UK, we are only recycling 3% more waste than we did in 2010.
Local governments have made it easy to recycle rubbish by providing local recycling centres for materials that cannot be added to the main domestic recycling bin. Upcycling (the creative reuse of waste materials) is also becoming increasingly popular as demonstrated by this life-size model of Eco Angel Julie Warnes made from old crisp packets and wire.
Recycling rates are increasing in the UK, but so is our population. To fulfil demand, we’re producing more goods and using more natural resources than ever before, but despite our best efforts, we are still throwing too many things away. Mrs Warnes is a role model to the young people in her care, encouraging them to be ecologically responsible. She also inspires in them a love of nature through the school’s gardening club which she runs.
Created by Lyng CoE Primary Academy (visit website)
Made from wire and crisp packets
Located at St Margaret’s Church, Lyng, Norwich, NR9 5RE (visit website)
Leave a Reply