This week the UK will celebrate its 17th Recycle Week, a national celebration of recycling organised by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Activity will focus on thanking the nation for continuing to recycle despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, and recognising the sacrifices that key workers and citizens have made to create positive change in the world.
A range of major organisations have already signed up to support the week of action, including supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Co-op; and major companies like Unilever, Danone and PepsiCo.
Recycle Week 2020 image, by WRAP
Jump, Waste Warriors!
To encourage people to recycle during the week, social organisation Jump has created a fun and engaging resource: Waste Warrior Bingo.
These are 9 challenges to take part in and tick off on individual bingo cards, which are explained in more detail in an accompanying blog post.
“Some you might find you can do easily (great!), whilst some might be a bit more challenging and require you to think outside the box (even better!),” Jump writes on its website. “We want you to start looking at your waste as valuable resources with huge potential.”
The bingo challenges range from ‘Make a meal out of your leftovers’ to sustainable actions such as ‘Repair an item of clothing’ or ‘Do a plastic-free shop’.
The card also encourages people to engage more deeply in the local recycling structure, with goals to ‘Drop an item off at a TerraCycle point’, or to ‘Find your nearest electrical recycling point.’
We’re looking for Waste Warriors this September are you up to the challenge? Our latest campaign is supporting Recycle Week 2020 with the theme ‘Together – We Recycle’. See you if you can complete all 9 activities and become a Waste Warrior. Get started: https://t.co/QRaEoxF9Ql
— Jump (@jumpengagement) September 17, 2020
Supporting change
Jump was set up in 2011 by Graham Simmonds, an eco-entrepreneur who had previously led Trees for Cities and built it up to a global, award-winning charity.
The idea behind Jump is to supercharge wellbeing and sustainability by encouraging individuals to take positive actions that create a large cumulative impact. Programmes are developed in collaboration with companies, local authorities and universities, and could focus on limiting plastic use, cycling to work or saving energy.
Crucially, each of these programmes are accessible and fun. Jump uses gamification and customised web platforms to drive behaviour change and keep users feeling hopeful that they can have a positive impact in the world.
Clients include organisations as diverse as the London Borough of Bexley, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Manchester University NHS Foundation.
Speaking about the partnership with the NHS Foundation — the first for an NHS Trust — Graham Simmonds told About Manchester that the activity was well placed to reach people traditionally lost to sustainability programmes.
“NHS Trusts across the UK face a challenge in engaging employees across multiple sites and working environments, especially reaching out to those who aren’t desk-based,” he said.
“Jump offers a technological solution, with our platform and app accessible to employees anywhere and anytime so will engage those not traditionally in the scope of conventional sustainability communications.”
WRAP stresses that Recycle Week has a history of impact, claiming the campaign reached 16 million people on digital channels in 2019, with 91% of people who saw the campaign saying they recycled more than in the previous year.
