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Recycling is a winner
A mother and daughter are set to become an inspiration to households across the city after winning a competition to become Hull's official eco family
You'll be seeing more of them over the next year – on posters around the city, on the council's website, in Hull in print and in other media.
That's because single parent Gillian Beadle and her daughter Leah (9), from New Bridge Road, have won the competition to become Hull's new eco family.
Judges were impressed with their fantastic commitment to recycling and reducing the amount of waste they throw away.
And now it's hoped Gillian and Leah will be able to encourage more families to follow suit.
"It's no good standing on a soapbox and telling people they should recycle," says Gillian.
"But hopefully if people see an ordinary family like us doing it, they'll realise how easy it is.
"Being green is a good way of saving money, and you can make it fun for kids too.
"If everyone put just a few bottles in their new blue bin it would make a huge difference."
Gillian, who works part-time for a charity, as a support worker with vulnerable adults, added: "We enjoy recycling and it's very satisfying knowing you're helping protect the environment for future generations.
"Seeing the floods we've had recently and knowing about the threat of freak weather from global warming, it makes you realise how important it is to recycle.
"If we can do it, everyone can do it!"
Don't be mean – turn green
To win the competition, Gillian wrote almost 1,000 words about the family's green lifestyle, and included the slogan 'don't be mean – turn green.'
On top of recycling as much household waste as possible, the family's efforts include:
- recycling unwanted books, clothes and toys by donating them to friends and relatives and charity shops
- reusing plastic carrier bags to bring shopping home
- using energy-saving light bulbs
- having reusable batteries in the camera
- recycling Christmas and birthday cards by giving them to a local nursery where children use them for arts and crafts
- collecting used stamps on behalf of the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity
- saving electricity by not leaving the television in standby mode, not boiling more water than necessary in the kettle, and using the 'half load' feature on the washing machine
 The three 'R's
As well as learning the three 'R's at Craven primary, Leah is also learning three 'R's of a different kind at home. That's reduce, re-use and recycle.
"My mum shows me what to do," she says.
"We all need to get recycling now to make the world a better place."
In her spare time, Leah loves going swimming at East Hull Baths and Woodford Leisure Centre, so naturally she was over the moon at winning one of the prizes in the competition – a one-year family pass to a Hull Leisure Centre of their choice.
The family have also won holiday vouchers worth £800 in the competition, staged in the June issue of Hull in print, but as yet they haven't decided where they'll go.
The new system
Gillian and Leah are also helping to promote the council's new waste collection arrangements, in which households across Hull are receiving new bins (see pages 20 and 21).
"What I like about the new system is that it enables you to recycle cardboard, whereas you couldn't before," says Gillian.
"We love breakfast cereals and yoghurts but before we just had to throw the cardboard and plastic tubs away.
"It surprises me, as a small family, just how much waste we can produce, but the new system also allows you to recycle all food waste, which I think is brilliant."
You can read Gillian and Leah's recycling tips in future issues of Hull in print.
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Why it's important
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In one year alone, Hull residents produce landfill waste weighing more than 10,000 double-decker buses.
And scientists warn that carbon gases from rotting landfill are one of the causes of global warming.
The gases form a layer around the atmosphere which traps heat, a bit like a greenhouse (that's why carbon gases are sometimes called 'greenhouse gases.')
If the planet warms up too much, there could be freak weather such as more flooding or heat waves, say scientists.
Carbon gases are also released from car exhausts and the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity.
That's why it's important that, as well as recycling more, we make other changes in our lives, like, for example travelling by cycle or public transport instead of using our cars, and not leaving TVs and computers in standby mode.
A large proportion of carbon gases are also linked to food production, storage and distribution.
In fact, if everyone stopped throwing away food that could have been eaten, it would have the same benefit to the environment as taking one in five cars off the roads.
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