How important it is to educate children and parents about sustainability is something we repeatedly notice during our school visits: some parents still send their children to school with standard PET bottles of water - those 25-cent single-use bottles. During our discussions with the children, they realise how unsustainable this is. When our speakers explain the global journey these bottles undertake to be processed into pellets in distant countries (mostly in Asia), only to be re-imported back here via a long return journey by ship, it becomes clear: this has little to do with sensible recycling, and we do not even want to start talking about the CO2 balance. A topical aspect: the risk of accidents involving ships, as seen in the collision of the two vessels off the coast of England. The East English coast is being inundated with plastic pellets from the maritime accident on 11 March.
It is therefore timely that our speakers, since the donation by the compressor manufacturer Bauer during the "boot" trade fair, have had steel bottles in their backpacks to give to the children as gifts. It is certainly healthier anyway, as the plasticisers in PET bottles present another compelling argument against using those containers.
