Bitter About Litter!

Having discussed plastic pollution and recycling and now completing a litter pick, Wrde Cubs have almost completed their Environmental Conservation badge!

Cubs collecting litter for their environmental conservation badge!

We started off our term looking at plastics – where they get used, where they end up (hint: it’s the sea!) and what we could use in their place.  As part of this we spent some time making a replacement for cling film – made out of bees wax!

This was followed up with a session talking about the ‘three Rs of Recycling’  – Reduce, Reuse & Recycle.  The Cubs then used some rubbish to make a model designed to represent their ideal camp – mostly these involved a fire, at least one toilet and a zip wire!

For our last night of the term, we spent our evening at the Rec picking up litter that some of its users had left.  During our meeting, we managed to collect a total of 6 bags of rubbish with the Rec agreeing to dispose of these for us. One of our Cubs, Josh (aged 9) commented:

It’s bad for the environment – please put it in the bin!’

As part the Scouting family, we spend a large amount of time outdoors, participating in a fun and adventurous programme whilst also getting close to nature.  Spending this time with our young people helps them to consider the effect they have on our environment and what they can do to reduce this effect. As a bonus for the Cubs, they have also got most of the way to earning the environmental conservation badge – this will be finished off next term after spending a bit of time looking at renewable energy.

Tim Kidd, UK Chief Commissioner for The Scouts said:

As Scouts, we’re committed to helping tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. We have always had a strong connection to the environment, and so taking action on plastic pollution is an obvious cause for our young people to champion.’

I am proud of the role our young people play in taking a stand against single use plastics.’