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3. Sir David Attenborough
Have you seen any of these?
• Life On Earth (1979)
• The Private Life of Plants (1995)
• Blue Planet (2001)
• Planet Earth (2006)
• Blues Planet II (2017)
Conor McDonnell / WWF-UK
Sir David Attenborough is a very well-known
English broadcaster and natural historian. He
was born on the 8th of May 1926, in London.
He studied natural sciences at Cambridge
University and joined the BBC in 1952.
Sir David Attenborough has produced, written
and narrated over 100 groundbreaking
natural history documentaries.

4. Sir David Attenborough
Did You Know…?
Sir David has visited every continent on earth. He is thought to be the
most-travelled human in history!
WWF-UK / David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our
Planet’ is a culmination of his
extraordinary experiences and a
reflection on the changes he has
witnessed during more than 90
years on earth.

5. A life on Our Planet
In 2014, the WWF calculated that populations of wild animals had reduced by
more than half since 1970.
Did You Know…?
Netflix / David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our
Planet’ is a powerful, first-hand
account of the impact humanity has
had on nature and a message of hope
for future generations.
Over his lifetime, Sir David has
witnessed a serious decline in the
living world.

6. A life on Our Planet
In ‘A Life on Our Planet’, Sir David Attenborough tells us how to build a new
kind of life on earth.
What Do We Need to Do?
Sir David is dedicated to trying to stop this
human-made devastation and believes, if we
can change to live in a more sustainable
way, we can reverse the damage.
Every single one of us has a responsibility
to look after the earth — for ourselves and
future generations.
We can all play a part, however small, in
repairing the destruction.
Netflix / David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet

7. The Four Imperatives
In ‘A Life on Our Planet’, four imperatives will be covered. They are:
Use Less Space Eliminate Waste
Go Carbon Net Zero Revive Our Oceans
What can we do to
reduce deforestation?
In this presentation, we will be looking at 'Eliminate Waste'.
Imperatives are important issues that need urgent attention or action.
How can we reduce,
reuse and recycle waste?
How can we generate
and use renewable energy?
How can we look
after our oceans?

8. Eliminate Waste
‘Eliminate Waste’ is all about the ‘three Rs’ — Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
What Does This Mean?
To learn more about this, we are going to explore the following questions:
• What is waste?
• What different types of waste are there?
• Is waste a huge problem?
• What are single-use items and why might
they be bad for our planet?
• Are there ways to prevent waste?
• What can we do to help the planet?

9. Eliminate Waste
When we talk about waste, we mean unwanted or unusable materials or
objects. A by-product is something that is created in addition to the main
product in manufacturing.
What Is Waste?

10. What Is Waste?
Waste is anything that is thrown away.
Think about your day so far. How many things have you thrown away
already? How many more things do you think you will throw away before you
go to bed tonight?
Watch this video to find out more about waste and the huge problems it causes for
our planet. We suggest you watch this video from the beginning to 2:50.
In the UK alone, the amount of
rubbish produced in eight months
would fill Windermere (the largest
and deepest lake in England).

11. What Is Waste?
Each Christmas, the UK throws away around
83km² of wrapping paper. That’s enough to fill a
small city.
Did You Know...?
If you wore all the rubbish you’d produced for 30 days,
what would you look like?
Talk About it

12. There are different types of waste and all of these have an impact on our planet in
different ways.
Different Types of Waste
One-third of all food produced is wasted. In the UK alone, over 10 million
tonnes of food is thrown away each year.
Food Waste
Watch this video to find out more about food waste and the problems it causes.
We suggest you watch this video from 1:36 to 6:38.
Added to the environmental problems that food
waste causes, there is also a moral issue. Out of
the world’s 7 billion people, it is thought that
around 925 million people are starving. It is a
huge global problem to have so much food
wastage in certain parts of the world when
some people do not have enough to eat.

13. Different Types of Waste
The video mentions that a person would probably be upset if they smashed a
new box of eggs but wouldn’t worry about a box of eggs unused in the fridge.
What do you think about that?
Talk About It
Around 30% of all fruits and
vegetables grown by farmers are
rejected by supermarkets because they
are misshapen. This rejected food
becomes food waste.
Did You Know…?

14. Different Types of Waste
People don’t always think about this type of waste.
Clothing Waste
Do you like wearing new clothes?
When the latest fashion comes out,
do you always buy it?
What happens to the clothes that
you don’t like any more or those that
you have grown out of?

15. Different Types of Waste
Making, transporting and washing clothing causes 10% of all global carbon
emissions.
Did You Know…?
It is thought that £140 million worth of
wearable clothing is sent to landfill sites each
year. Landfills are huge mounds of waste that
cause big problems for the environment. The
waste in landfills releases toxins, which seep
into the soil and damage plant life. This, is
turn, can be harmful for wildlife. When waste
decomposes, methane (a greenhouse gas) is
also released, which harms the environment.

16. Different Types of Waste
What do you think this type of waste might be?
Does the term remind you of any other phrases?
E-Waste
The ‘e’ in e-waste stands for electronic,
just like in the word email.
What do you think electronic waste is?
E-waste means the throwing away of
electronic goods, such as televisions,
electronic equipment, fridges and
mobile phones.

17. Different Types of Waste
The equivalent of 4 million double-
decker buses full of e-waste is thrown
away every year.
Did You Know…?
In today’s society, lots of people want to have the latest electronic devices,
particularly when it comes to phones and tablets. The more this happens, the
more e-waste is produced.
Why do you think people often want
the latest phone?
Talk About It

18. Being Wasteful
Think about your everyday life, both at home and at school.
Can you think of unnecessary waste that is created?
Talk to your partner and try to think of different examples of clothing waste,
e-waste and food waste.

19. Being Wasteful
The total number of disposable nappies used for one baby weighs roughly the
same as a family car.
Did You Know…?
What can we do to help reduce the amount of
waste we create, both at home and at school?
Talk About It
‘Upgrade culture’ is when people want the latest
gadgets as soon as they are available, even when
their current gadgets still work well.
Have you experienced or seen any examples of
upgrade culture?

20. Single-Use Items
It is thought that 32% of single-use plastic packaging ends up in the world’s
oceans, causing pollution that harms marine life.
Did You Know…?
Single-use items are things that are only used once and then thrown away. They
include plastic drinks bottles, cotton buds, plastic straws, paper towels, disposable
cutlery and many other things.
Once they have been used once, they
often get sent to landfill. In fact,
single-use plastics account for half of
all plastic that is thrown away.
When single-use items are in landfill,
they take a long time to break down.
Plastic bottles and disposable nappies
will take over 450 years to decompose.

21. Making a Difference
There are many organisations working to eliminate plastic waste. In April 2018,
the UK Plastic Pact was launched. This is where companies, councils and other
organisations have agreed to ensure that:
• 100% of all plastic produced can be recycled;
• more of their products will be made from recycled plastic;
• single-use plastics will be eliminated.
Netflix / David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
In 2017, Sir David Attenborough produced a
documentary called Blue Planet II, which included
footage of the damage plastic waste was doing to
our oceans. Here is Sir David explaining the impact
of the documentary and how it has inspired people
to tackle the problem of plastic waste.

22. Making a Difference
In 2019, many major fast-food
companies banned plastic straws
and replaced them with paper
ones.
Did You Know…?
Do you try to reduce plastic waste by doing any of the things shown in Sir
David Attenborough’s video?
Talk About It

23. The Three Rs — Reduce
In the three Rs of eliminating waste, ‘reduce’ is all
about lowering the amount of waste you produce.
Before you purchase anything, ask yourself the
following questions:
• Do I need it?
• Do I already have something like it?
• Have I used what I already own until it
is worn out?
• Could I repair what I already have,
rather than buying something new?

24. The Three Rs — Reduce
This could apply to food, toys, clothes, gadgets or anything at all.
When you are buying items, try to choose things that can be reused
and go for items that have only a small amount of packaging.
If possible, try to select items with recyclable packaging.

25. The Three Rs — Reuse
Reusing items is a great way to eliminate waste. Before throwing something
away, ask yourself whether you could reuse it. Here are just a few ideas of how
items can be reused, either for their original purpose or in a new way:
• Wash out plastic drinks bottles and use them for other drinks.
• Egg cartons can be used to plant seedlings in.
• The wool from a frayed jumper can be unravelled and used
to knit a new item of clothing.
• Yoghurt pots can be washed and used as pencil pots.
• Shopping bags can be reused every time you visit
the shops.

26. The Three Rs — Reuse
Can you think of any other ways that you could reuse items?
Talk About It
Even if you can’t reuse an item,
maybe someone else could. You
could take old items to charity
shops or even hold a car
boot/garage sale and make some
money from other people finding
uses for your old things!

27. The Three Rs — Recycle
The word ‘recycle’ means to make something usable out of waste material.
Watch this video to find out more about the difference recycling plastic
can make.
Most houses and schools have
different bins to separate
objects made out of different
materials so that they can be
recycled. Some of the easiest
items to recycle include paper,
glass and tin cans.

28. The Three Rs — Recycle
Some (but not all) plastics can also be recycled. To find out which plastics
can be recycled, look for the recycling sign with a number in the middle
of it. Generally, if there is a one or a two, the plastics are widely
recyclable. With other numbers, recycling may depend on the area you live
in so you will need to check with your local recycling centre.
1 2

29. What Next?
Although it might seem like a challenge, the exciting thing is that we can all do
our bit to eliminate waste. If we all play our part, we can make a difference to
our planet.
Think about your own life. How can you start to add in more of the three Rs to
your everyday routine?
Share your ideas with a partner.
Challenge One

30. What Next?
Think about your school. Are there things
it already does to eliminate waste? Write
a letter to your headteacher explaining
what you have learnt and share your
ideas about how your school can do more
to eliminate waste.
Challenge Two
Create a poster for younger children to explain the three Rs and give them some
ideas about how they can get involved.
Challenge Three