DofE participant sets up local recycling scheme

Wycliffe College participant Harry Tawlks has created his own recycling scheme as a part of his Silver DofE Award. Harry chose to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill in his local area by looking at items which are not recycled by the local council and finding schemes to recycle these items with.

He advertised his services on social media and did local collections once a week for six months. He collected items, making sure people packaged these correctly, sorted these and distributed them accordingly. Items included blister packages, soft plastics, writing implements and foil balloons and banners.

Harry said: “My family recycle a lot but I noticed how much still goes to landfill. I decided to volunteer to collect and recycle items from people in my community that could be recycled through other schemes, like soft packets, crisp packets, medication packets and old pens. I wanted to help save the wildlife and environment as where I live quite a lot of soft plastic items end up in hedges. I enjoyed having something to do that made a change even if it was only a very small one as I think lots of small actions can combine to make a difference.”

The DofE Manager at Wycliffe College is Kate Elliott and she was impressed with the idea.

Kate says: “This contribution to the environment took initiative and planning to see through and is such a great idea. Well done Harry!”