Waste Watch was a non-profit,

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

organisation based in the UK, inspiring people to live more and waste less. It was a registered charity. Waste Watch aimed to improve well-being and the environment on a local and global level, by changing the way we live; such as the ways we produce, buy, use and dispose of things. The organisation primarily worked with

community groups Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

businesses Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separat ...

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

and other not-for-profit organisations. In 2011 Waste Watch merged with the

environmental charity An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environment ...

Keep Britain Tidy Keep Britain Tidy is a UK-based independent environmental charity. The organisation campaigns to reduce litter, improve local places and prevent waste. It has offices in Wigan and London. History Keep Britain Tidy was originally set up by a conf ...

History

Waste Watch grew out of the community

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

movement in the 1980s. The organisation was founded in 1987, by the

National Council for Voluntary Organisations The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. It is a registered charity (no 225922). NCVO works to support the voluntary and community sector and to create an ...

, with a mission to make waste issues mainstream and to encourage waste reduction, reuse and recycling.

Timeline

*1987. Ran the UK’s first Recycling Week during the European Year of the Environment. During this time, it also published the first UK National Directory of Recycling Information. *1991. Registered as a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

(no. 10054)(1337). During the 1990s, Waste Watch launched telephone information service Wasteline, produced the first UK Recycled Products Guide and lobbied UK government to introduce the first waste strategy for England. *1994. Launched Recycler the rapping robot to deliver the ‘

reduce, reuse, recycle Waste hierarchy is a tool used in the evaluation of processes that protect the environment alongside resource and energy consumption from most favourable to least favourable actions. The hierarchy establishes preferred program priorities based ...

’ message to British primary school children. *1999. Commissioned the first UK-wide survey of public attitudes to waste which shaped the development of future national and local awareness campaigns. *2000. Became a founding member of the UK government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), whose mission is to help develop markets for material resources that would otherwise have become waste. *2011. Merger with the UK environmental charity

. During the 2000s, Waste Watch ran Rethink Rubbish, which later became the national Recycle Now public awareness campaign.

Recycler the Robot

In 1994, Waste Watch launched Recycler the rapping robot to deliver the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ message to British primary school children. The Recycler show involves story-telling with theatrical props and quizzes, and follow-up activities for the school. Along with an education professional, the robot shows pupils how they can put reducing, reusing and recycling into practice at home and at school. Recycler has reached more than 1.5 million pupils since 1994, and has visited more than 7,200 schools, performing more than 15,000 times.Archived a
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References

Environmental organisations based in England