Can we do things differently
In nature, one animal’s waste is a resource to another. Of course, worms don’t have phones and polar bears don’t drive. But can we learn from nature and make our stuff by reusing materials over and over again?
Go back
Back
Watch Video
Can we do better than this?
A good question from Ellen MacArthur who sailed around the world and had to use resources as efficiently as possible.
Watch Video
Get Loopy
What can we learn from living systems in the way we make our stuff?
Watch Video
From lines to loop
Thinking in loops and turning waste into useful materials.
Watch Video
Turning waste into usefull stuff
Connecting factories like a spider’s web.
Awesome Facts
Next
Back
- From about 1760 to 1830, lots of inventions changed our way of making stuff and this period is called the Industrial Revolution.
- Before turning to industrial inventions, Richard Arkwright travelled around the country to collect discarded human hair to make wigs – a good use of waste!
- In 2008, the UK produced about 288 million tonnes of waste: construction (35%), mining and quarrying (30%), commercial and industrial (23%), households (11%) and others (1%). Around half of all that waste ended up in landfill sites.
- On average, each household in the UK produces over a tonne of waste every year. That’s the weight of a small car!
- Our bins are just a tiny part of the waste that ends up in landfill sites. The rest is created when we extract raw materials and make stuff.
- If everyone on Earth used as much stuff as the average person does in Europe, we would need 3 planets! But we’ve only got one!
- In some countries,’ landfill miners’ are starting to dig out tonnes of valuable materials from waste tips, such as metals, plastic, paper and glass.
Teachers
Download fun and original activities to encourage 7 to 12 year old children to develop their understanding of a 'closed loop' economy and to stimulate discussion and debate.
Download Actiities