Fair Trade The European Union Nationalities in our School Litter & Waste Nations must unite to make the world right (Cillian O Corcora 4th) Fair Trade is how friends are made (Jack Mc Grath 4th) Be a Green Clean Recycling Machine (Tadhg Foley 4th) ‘Before you finish eating your breakfast in the morning you have depended on half the world’ There are 27 memeber countries in the EU. Ireland currently holds the presidency. The EU was set up after the 2nd world war to promote peace and trade. Ireland U.K. China Latvia Poland Russia U.S.A. Vietnam Nigeria Bangladesh Congo Romania Lithuania Slovakia If your country is not included please let us know Open Night Display 2012 Every year we have a Green School Display at open night School Waste & Recycling 2011-2012 Waste (litres) Recycling (litres) 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 August July June May April March February January December November October September 0 Total Recycling & Waste School Year 2011-2012 Recycling 31,680 litres Waste 6,240 litres 25000 20000 15000 Recycling (litres) Waste (litres) 10000 5000 0 Sept-Dec Jan-Apr May-Aug Sept-Dec Jan-Apr May-Sept 11 12 12 12 13 13 ‘If we don’t change direction we are likely to end up where we are headed.’ Plastic bottles can be recycled into new bottles fleece jumpers car mats Recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy required to produce new aluminium from raw materials. Recycling 1 plastic bottle will save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 3 hours. You pay less to have your recycling bin collected than for you waste bin collection Waste dumped in landfill instead of recycling produces methane which contributes to Global Warming. Recycling also saves energy. In 2009 Ireland was ranked 2nd in Europe for greenhouse gas emission per head. Greenhouse gasses contribute to climate change. Climate change leads to an increase in floods hurricanes and drought. The developed world is mainly responsible for climate change Climate change hits the poorer countries hardest. Wiser Group Ltd own their own Recycling Recovery Facility in Co. Tipperary. Here materials are sorted into Cardboard,Aluminium,Steel,Plastic & Paper. These are made into 1 tonne bales and shipped to be reused abroad. Electricity is being generated from the general waste collected. Wood ……………………91% Aluminium ……………32% Textiles …………………45% Plastics …………………13% Glass ……………………..4% Paper/Cardboard ….less than 1% Electrical Waste….…less than 1% Is this a good enough excuse considering how much waste we generate ? Why not take action and write to a politician about this He told us that “European directive has no power to legislate over what goes on outside the EU……. …The waste directive however encourages the use of local waste management where possible” By 2008, Irish people were ranked 4th in Europe for recycling household electrical waste.. Electronic waste can pollute soil and drinking water. It accounts for 70% of the overall toxic waste found in landfills. Virtually every household electrical item can be recycled. In Ireland you can no longer dispose of IT equipment in a bin, skip or waste tip. Since 2008 all shops that sell batteries must take back your waste batteries for recycling. Car Batteries can be brought back to your local garage. Lots of electronic waste is exported to other countries. Some of this is done illegally. Poor people in these countries put their health at risk, during the dismantling process. Once dismantled the unrecyclable parts often end up thrown in toxic piles in these countries. New EU directives will force us to take more responsibility for what becomes of the waste we ship abroad. Raphael is a 10 year old boy living in Ghana. His hands are cut from collecting sharp copper wire from electrical waste at a dump. Fires are lit to burn off plastic. He gets headaches from the fumes. The river nearby is polluted from the dump. Recycling is good but it is better not to create electrical waste in the first place Before you upgrade your phone or TV ask yourself if you really need to. Can you give it to someone else who would use it? In India people have greater access to mobile phones than to toilets. 13 trees 31,ooo litres of water Results in 75% less air pollution The average Irish family consumes around 500 glass bottles a year Glass is very easy to recycle. Recycling 1 tonne of glass saves over 300kgs of Carbon Dioxide emissions. Plastic packaging from food often ends up in dumped in landfill. This pollutes and is harmful to wild life. Plastic and glass can take up to 1000 years to break down. Next time you go shopping see if you can buy unpackaged fruit and veg. By 2010 in Ireland 74% of our packaging waste was being recycled. In 2010 Ireland produced the 4th highest level of waste per head in Europe. Latvia had the lowest. The average Irish household produces 1 tonne of waste per year. That’s the equivalent to the weight of about 20 children Waste that goes to dumps produces methane which leads to global warming. Recycle or compost when you can. 2/3 of our waste can be diverted from landfill. Ice cream..Yum! Speech speech! And the band played..