Eyes on Early Years Volume 15 | Page 16

Earth Day 2018 End Plastic Pollution By Sophie Booth “A World Without Plastic Pollution” is the focus for this year’s Earth Day campaign on April 22nd. The aim is to greatly reduce the amount of toxic plastic which ends up on landfill and contaminating the worlds oceans by raising awareness of this issue and educating people on how to properly recycle their househole waste. Since the begining of this year, many organisations have already declared the ban of single use plastics. In the UAE, hotel groups such as The Mariott and The Anantara and restaurant chains The Noodle House and Freedom Pizza have all commited to stop using these single use plactics in an effort to dramatically reduce plastic pollution. Educating children and parents ensures that everyone begins to understand the importance of recyling and reducing plastic waste, and for children it is especially important to learn how to care for the world which they are growing up in. Setting up a recycling station in your setting allows children and parents to be involved in recycling first hand and helps them understand how to recyle waste properly - and why it is so important! Ask parents to bring in plastics, boxes and cans from home and have children sort these for recycling. You could set up a recycling competiton between classess to see who can collect the most materials for recyling at the end of each week. The more we encourage children to be aware of the dangers of plastic and the benefits of recycling, the better equipped they will be to care for the planet in the future.