Ready, Set, Recycle

To mark Recycle week Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorer Scouts from across Wales have been congratulated by Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs after collecting over 17,600 recyclable items between them.

Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorer Scouts from across the UK took part in the ‘Ready, Set, Recycle’ challenge this summer, which resulted in over 77,000 items being collected across the UK.

There were five Welsh groups competing to recycle the most plastic, paper, card, metal and glass packaging items from around their homes. The young people  also learnt about the environmental impacts of recycling, for example if everyone who took part in the challenge recycled one more plastic milk bottle, it would save enough energy to power a primary school for 1½ months – over half a school term.

The challenge was part of the Recycle for Wales campaign funded by the Welsh Government and delivered by WRAP Cymru. Teaming up with The Scout Association this exciting challenge saw young people learn the skills they need to achieve their Environmental Conservation Activity Badge.

The Scout Association said:

“Scouting is about teaching young people life skills, and one of the most essential skills we can learn is how to look after our planet and have fun doing so. The Ready Set Recycle competition made understanding recycling easy and fun for our groups, abolishing common misconceptions about what we can and can’t recycle. We have had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the groups that took part, and we hope Recycle for Wales can continue to help us teach our young people to help look after the world!”

The Cabinet Secretary said:

”Wales leads the rest of the UK with a 58% recycling rate and it’s fantastic to see our future generations get on board with recycling. Congratulations to the all of the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorer Scouts from the Welsh groups for collecting over 17,000 different items of recyclable material. I hope all of our Welsh participants found this an exciting challenge.”

The winning group, who recycled the most material per member, will be announced in October.