Malahide Sea Scouts Recharge the Earth – Our Journey! #Issue1of2

At MSS, we take part in activities in “Nature and the Outdoors” as part of the Scout Method, therefore, we have a responsibility to protect Nature, through our “Service and Commitment”.

When we heard that Scouting Ireland had teamed up once again with the European Recycling Platform (ERP), Ireland’s only pan-European compliance scheme for electrical and electronic waste and battery recycling, to launch the Recharge the Earth challenge – WE KNEW WE HAD TO TAKE PART!! Read on to learn about our journey and awareness campaign.

The Challenge

The initiative is designed to promote battery recycling and raise awareness among our youth members, whilst reducing the carbon footprint of our Scout Group. ERP wants us to collect as many used batteries as possible for recycling in order to earn tree coupons. Once we have collected four full boxes (or 100kg) of batteries, ERP will reward us with a coupon that can be exchanged for a tree. The tree will be planted somewhere in our community, Malahide.

Used batteries are being stored in our ERP Recycling boxes located on the Main Deck of our Scout Den

Why is it so important that we recycle used batteries?

ERP Ireland have estimated that the equivalent of 80 million AA batteries are sold in Ireland every year and most end up in landfill. When batteries are sent to landfill, corrosive metals and toxic chemicals that make a battery leach out and bioaccumulate in the environment, negatively impacting air, water, land, animal habitats and humans. Major positives to recycling batteries include:

• Energy Saving
• Re-using valuable metals to make new products reducing demand for more raw materials from the earth and the energy used to extract and refine them.
• Cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions which help to tackle climate change.

 

In 2008, Ireland made the EU Batteries Directive into an Irish law. This law currently sets a recycling target of 45% for all batteries sold by 2016. Let’s get recycling!!

MSS Awareness Campaign

Since November 2014 our Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Ventures and Leaders have searched their homes high and low, in all drawers, in-between and under every seat cushion for batteries as well as collecting from work, friends, and family. We fully support the law and target currently in place and hope you will follow suit and help us better protect our environment. Our InHouse Environmental Scientist and leader, Stephen O’ Reilly, has co-ordinated our Recharge the Earth Challenge and paid a visit to each of our beaver, cub and scout sections to give a brief talk on battery recycling before taking group photos  to acknowledge their recycling efforts. The cubs and beavers have been set a project to promote battery recycling and will be awarded their Special Interest Badge for the Environment for taking part.

Scouts

Cub Scouts:

Beavers

What can you do at home to get involved?

Under the Battery Directive, all retail outlets that sells batteries are required to take-back waste batteries, similar in type to those they supply. Most retail outlets will have in-store boxes which you can put your used-batteries in FOR FREE. The batteries are then sent away to be recycled.

Easy, right????

Check back for our Next Update in a few weeks!

Thank you for reading our 1^st Issue make sure to check back for Issue 2. You can look forward to pictures of all our Beaver and Cub projects aimed at promoting battery recycling. We also hope to cover the planting of our tree(s), stay tuned!!!

Issue 2 – Now Available

Contact: Stephen greenscoutden@gmail.com

Reading Materials:

Scouters Notes:

ERP Ireland:

Scouting Ireland: