Last week, a rubbish assembly was delivered to students in Years 7 and 8. The topic was Litter Picking. All students and staff played a giant version of Heads and Tails to learn facts about the amount of rubbish on our streets and its effects. The following questions were posed:
1. How many tonnes of litter are collected on our streets every year? [30 million]
2. The 30 million tonnes of litter equates to how many Wembley stadiums filled? [4 Wembley Stadiums]
3. How much does it cost councils across the UK to clear up chewing gum? [£20 000]
4. What percentage of all town centres have cigarette litter? [99%]
5. How many people drop litter in the UK? [62%]
6. How many people admit to dropping litter in the UK? [28%]
7. Is littering ILLEGAL? [Yes]
8. Of the litter we see in the oceans, how much ends up on the seabed? [70%]
9. Studies have found that there is a 50% mortality rate among sea creatures. How many pieces of plastic have been found in their guts? [14 pieces of plastic]
10. How long does it take plastic to decompose? [450 years]
11. Where is the most plastic litter found? [outside schools. The alternative answer was Town Centres]
12. Is littering a choice? [yes]
By question 6, about 2/3 of the students and almost all of the teachers were out. By question 10, there was approximately half a dozen students fighting it out for the top prize. By question 11, there were 3 clear winners.
Today, the Year 8 Kaleidoscope group collected the following amounts of litter:
Team 1 – 244
Team 2 – 203
Team 3 – 277
Team 4 – 306
The route taken to collect the litter was out through the Prep school, left onto Grove Road, left onto the A232 and left onto Cheam Road. We crossed the roads to the Library and Holiday Inn. Interestingly, there were many hairbands collected between the Garden Building and Prep. There was a large number of cigarette butts along Grove Road and fewer than normal plastic and glass bottles for the rest of the collection!
The students, as always, were enthusiastic, committed and astonished at the “treasure” they found.