Waste Watch


Waste Watch was a non-profit, sustainability 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, businesses, schools and other not-for-profit organisations.
In 2011 Waste Watch merged with the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

History

Waste Watch grew out of the community recycling movement in the 1980s. The organisation was founded in 1987, by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, with a mission to make waste issues mainstream and to encourage waste reduction, reuse and recycling.

Timeline

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.