Below are just a few ideas of things that you can do if you want to look at recycling and how you can do your bit.

Spend 15 minutes outside and see what sort of litter you can find.  BE CAREFUL ABOUT ANYTHING YOU PICK UP.  Make a list of what you see and then write down what can be recycled.

Arrange a magazine, book or clothes swap, either in your patrol or with the whole Company.  Make sure that the things belong to you and ask permission before you bring things to Guides, especially the clothes!

Write a letter to a company complaining about something you have bought that has had unnecessary packaging which you have had to throw away.   Suggest what the company can do to improve things.

As a Patrol, decide on something that you can do that involves recycling i.e. start to collect aluminium cans.  Try to get the whole Company involved and see how much money you can raise.

Think about things that you can do save water, energy and help with recycling.  Here are just a few ideas:

water: don't leave the tap running when cleaning your teeth; use a water barrel in the garden for collecting rain water to water your plants; put a block in your toilet cistern to reduce the amount of water that you use each flush

energy: only heat the rooms that you use; switch the television off when no one is watching it; put lids on saucepans to reduce the cooking time of food

recycling: write on both sides of your note paper; reuse envelopes; reuse things like plastic bags and jars; start a compost heap with food scraps Recycling Facts: Over 97% of the world's water is salt.  Of the remaining fresh water, very little is available to use because most of it is frozen in ice caps or lies too far underground for us to get at easily. 15 mature trees make 1 tonne of paper Recycling half of the paper used in the world could save 3,237,425 acres of forest In America, 90% of rubbish is buried.