A Pocketful of Green Facts and Figures

Did you know that every year, about four million tonnes of rubbish is thrown away in Wales, enough to fill the millennium stadium once every 20 days? Or that we in Wales throw away 240 million disposable nappies a year, that’s 500 per minute?

These are just two of the fascinating facts which can be found in Dref Wen’s latest pocket-sized publication “Y byd yn eich poced” (The world in your pocket). Written by Gwenith Hughes, a specialist in the environment and sustainable development, it reveals through snappy facts and figures the scale of the challenge which lies ahead for us in terms of cutting down on pollution and waste of all kinds, and is perfect for getting the lowdown on everything from climate change to landfill and from fair trade to going organic.

‘I wanted to put a book together which conveyed the important environmental messages in a short and snappy format’

Explains Gwenith, who is 25 and lives in Aberystwyth.

‘We hear so much about the environment these days, but I don’t think it always sinks in. When you think that we throw away enough rubbish in a year to fill in the millennium stadium once every 20 days, or that we throw away a third of every bag of food we buy, I think it’s easier to get some idea of the scale of the problem.’

As well as listing the facts and figures, the book also offers simple tips on how we can try and cut down on waste. For example, simple things like closing the curtains and turning the heating down instead of opening the window, or buying local meat from Wales rather than meat that’s been imported to support the local economy and cut down on carbon dioxide. It has hints and tips on how to cut waste and harm to the environment in the home, in the garden, with your pets, when you travel and in the office.

Ann MacGarry from the Centre for Alternative Technology, who offered consultancy to Gwenith whilst she was putting the book together said

‘It’s great to see a practical little book like this, specifically looking at things from a Welsh point of view and written in Welsh, available in bookshops. Let’s hope people really do take a leaf out of Gwenith’s book!’

Y Byd yn eich poced
Dref Wen
£3.99
ISBN 978-1-85596-801-1

Facts and figures

• People in Wales use so much resources that if everyone else did the same we’d need three planets to sustain us all
• Scientists predict that the earth’s temperature will rise between 3ºC and 6ºC over the next 100 years. The Earth’s temperature rose 6ºC 250 million years ago and wiped out 95% of the world’s animals and plants at the time
• The food and drink industry is responsible for 25% of Wales’s ecological footprint
• Every plastic bag takes 500 years to decompose. We use 500 million of them a week
• Last Christmas we used and threw away enough wrapping paper to cover the whole of Guernsey. Recycling only half of the 8,000 tonnes of paper used would save 25,000 trees
• British households throw away a third of every food bag they buy, that’s 6.7 million tonnes of food every year, half of which is edible and accounts for 19% of the country’s domestic waste. This kind of waste generates methane gas, gas that’s more powerful than Carbon Dioxide. Preventing this kind of waste would have the same affect as getting rid of 20% of the cars in Britain
• A forest the size of Wales is needed to produce the amount of paper used in Britain every year
• Scientists predict that 150 million people will have to leave their homes by 2050 because of climate change