'Drastic Plastic and Troublesome Trash'

We received this wonderful book, 'Drastic Plastic and troublesome Trash' by Hannah Wilson from Carlton publishing group to review.

It is wonderful to find a book that explains in simple terms the issues around recycling, greenhouse gases and the huge plastic problem.

'Drastic Plastic & Troublesome Trash' has 64 pages full of easy to understand explanations, illustrations to further explain concepts and lots of colour. The illustrations and pictures make this book very child friendly, and as a book aimed at 7+, it works very well.

What's included?

The book is 'jam' packed with facts and figures, with mini quizzes to test your knowledge along the way.

'Drastic Plastic & Troublesome Trash' includes the following:

• An introduction. This eloquently explains how the planet is suffering from the immense 'trash' we produce, landfill sites and how they work and what recycling centres are and their work. 
• The book moves on to introduce the main materials used: plastic, glass, paper, metal, cloth in our everyday lives as well as food. Each topic is broken down into the following subcategories: (1) explaining how each item is produced, (2)how items are recycled and (3) how to reuse and reduce usage in our daily lives. 

Reasons we love this book

As mentioned above, the book covers a vast amount of theory with regards to polluting the planet and recycling. Little person was able to understand the concept of carbon footprint and greenhouse gases, even though we hadn't had a chance before this to talk about these concepts. The explanations are simple enough for him and any child or adult, to understand. 

Greenhouse gasses are explained in enough detail to make sense, but not overwhelming. Little person has been able to appreciate why carbon dioxide causes problems and he's learnt a lot about methane! 

Throughout the book, there are tips to help, for instance the following,

I must admit I didn't know about recyclenow.com, so both little person and I have learnt something!

What makes 'Drastic Plastic & troublesome Trash' so easy to use, is the brilliant illustrations. For each material, we are introduced to how it is made (crude oil for plastic, sand for glass...) and the illustrations showing the process taking place within a factory enable the reader to really understand what is happening and where the problem lies.

It is also great to see the same style illustrations are used to show how recycling works, and why it's so important. 

Little person has enthusiastically noted the recycling tips provided for each material, simple tips such as squashing plastic recyclable material, washing out items, removing tape from paper and card, dismantling toys to separate the plastic from metal and so on. It all seems like simple tips, but it is wonderful that these ideas are presented in a child friendly manner, meaning the youngsters will get involved (and know what to do!).

I have alongside little person, loved reading all the DIY up cycling tips. We cannot wait to start our own up cycling projects such as making a cup coaster using magazines, bird feeders using plastic bottles, making a rag bag and I am very excited about starting our compost project! 

Throughout the book, there are lots of interesting facts, for instance 

'In the USA the average home contains 300,000 things'.

'One tonne of recycled plastics saves about 16 barrels of oil and landfill space and size of a minibus' . 

'It takes 10 litres of water to make one A4 sheet of paper!'.

The best part about this book are the quizzes included. They not only test your knowledge but are great for revision purposes, and help retain the info learnt! 

We have thoroughly enjoyed this book, and we will be using this further for all out recycling projects and as a revision aid. 'Drastic Plastic & Troublesome Trash' will be available to purchase on 8th August from Carlton publishers.