Biofore-Magazine-2021

By Sini-Maria Melanen Photography Joonas Linkola

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FEATURE

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Recycling buddies to the rescue When it comes to protecting our environment, is there such a thing as starting too early? P icture this. A classroom in Finland filled with colouring books, toys, and the sound of curious and excited children. But apart from learning their ABCs and numbers, these children are also learning something new about recycling.

A roaring success While the school curriculum in Finland includes themes such as cir cular economy and recycling, research showed that preschoolers and preschool teachers were lacking proper materials to address these themes. “Thiswas an important factwhich ledus to choosepreschoolers and preschool teachers as the target group in themaking of the book,” says Kati Janhunen , Commercial InnovationManager at Arla, who acted as themanager in the Recycling Buddies project. That’s not all. Last year, Arla and UPM conducted a survey that in dicated that almost every third Finnish family recycled more if their children were interested in recycling. Also, over 90% of respondents thought that companies should encourage consumers in recycling and provide information on the recyclability of product packaging. The project was a unique opportunity for the three companies to share knowledge and work towards a common goal. The 32-page Re cyclingBuddies book contains a variety of creative tasks for preschool ers, and the accompanying teacher’s material provides practical tips for the classroom. “We want to raise a generation that sees recycling

as easy and fun,” says Anneli Kunnas , SeniorManager of stakeholder relations andmarketing at UPMBiofuels. The book was distributed free of charge, and so far it has been a major success. The first 60,000 copies were distributed within four days, leading to a decision tomake an additional 30,000 copies. “It might sound like a cliché, but there is a lot of strength in cooper ation. For us, it felt amazing to see howwell the workwe did resonated with the target group,” Janhunen notes. Influencing real change Janhunenbelieves thatwhen children surroundedby these ideas grow up, the practice of recycling and the knowledge of how to live sustain ably will become an integral part of their lives. “What we saw in the 2020 survey was that when children learn about recycling and circular economy, their enthusiasm and ‘positive pressure’ will influence their parents as well to do more for the envi ronment,” she explains. So, what does the futurehold for theRecyclingBuddies project?The collaborators are proud to see a growing interest in it, and it also helps that they are building on long-standing partnerships. “UPM started working with Arla Finland back in 2019 when we launched 40 million wood-based cartons a year – featuring plastic made from wood-based UPM BioVerno naphtha – together with Arla and carton producer Elopak,” explains Kunnas. “The collaboration went so well that Arla contacted us about the making of a Recycling Buddies book and also an augmented reality game onArla yoghurt and milk cartons.” At a time when the world is grappling with the challenge of climate change and pollution, educating the next generation in tackling this problem is not just a good idea, it is a necessary one.

an activity book specially designed for preschoolers in Finland and launched last spring. The book, developed according to the princi ples of the national board of education of Finland, is designed to both educate and awaken interest in the circular economy. This successful initiative was a joint effort by UPM, Arla Foods and grocery retailer KGroup, and thematerial was produced by Sanoma Pro. “Recycling Buddies is a versatile activity book with lots of nice and creative exercises and assignments for children,” says preschool teacher Johanna Hämäläinen from the Pilke science-oriented day care centre Planeetta inHämeenlinna. “For example, one day we used it to help us do crafts with recycledmaterials, and on another day used it as a guide to collect trash during a walk in a forest and sorted it af terwards.” The children were very excited to learn about the themes and do the assignments. “Somuch so that we had to tell themnot to do all the tasks right away,” Hämäläinen says smiling. “Parents have also been pleased. Things their kids learn at preschool, such as how to savewater and electricity, can become part of their home life as well.”

“There’s so much trash all around. We need to sort the plastic and paper into the right containers,” says one preschooler, her eyes glow ing with determination. “I want to make a jar out of milk cartons,” exclaims another pupil. “How do I go about it?” “For that, we need to collectmore recycledmaterials,” says the teach er, as she takes them through a colourful book filled with practical tips and tricks tomake recycling fun and educational. The book Kierrätyskaverit , or Recycling Buddies in English, is

“We want to raise a generation that sees recycling as easy and fun.”