Ebbw Vale Buds to Blossoms nursery tackling litter crisis with plastic-free playtime

Buds to Blossoms Day Nursery in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, follows the Curiosity approach inspired by Reggio Emilliano schools, where children are encouraged to learn through play.

But rather than rely on the same old plastic tea sets, fruit and toys, owner Lee Fowler and his staff spend their free time trawling through charity shops, flea markets and car boot sales, picking up bargain objects destined for the rubbish dump and introducing them into the play rooms.

“We provide stuff for play that is meaningful,” explained 30-year-old Mr Fowler, from Ebbw Vale.

“We’ve got rid of almost all of the plastic toys the kids used to play with and we’ve gone down the road going into charity shops and car boots sales are picking up real things for them to play with.

(Harvey Evans Prosser plays with a bone china tea set at the Reggio Emilia inspired day nursery in Ebbw Vale)

“So, for example, instead of plastic tea sets they play with real china tea sets.

“They just weren’t treating the plastic stuff with respect. They were throwing it around and just not looking after it at all.

“There are no consequences with plastic, but when they use the real stuff they’re treating it with more respect.

“It’s basically stuff they weren’t allowed to touch in their grandmothers house growing up, but always wanted to. We go into shops to specifically look for things like that. Something different and interesting.

READ MORE: Clearing litter and fly-tipping 'biggest part of the day' at Fourteen Locks Canal Centre

“We allow the children to see that if they treat this stuff the way they treated to plastic, then it’s going to smash. After that they learn that they have to treat it with care.”

Mr Fowler, who first opened Buds to Blossoms Day Nursey with business partner Sarah Adlam two years ago, has 28 members of staff working over two sites.

The Ebbw Vale nursery takes children aged 12 weeks to five years old, while the Flying Start nursery site in nearby Cwm accepts children aged two to five years old.

Both sites follow the same principles, and are full to bursting with happy children.

Mr Fowler explained that his background in education left him wanting to try a different approach on his own terms.

As well as plastic-free play, the school has removed primary colours from most classroom walls, which stopped the children getting over-stimulated.

“We are full up - that’s 54 children a day,” said Mr Fowler.

 

(Joshua Williams, Emily Evans, Harvey Evans Prosser and Luca Collins)

“I don’t even know how many children are on the waiting list, but it’s a lot.

“We have different rooms for different age groups, and we take children from 12 weeks up to five years old.

“The younger children will still have a few bits of plastic, because of their age, but you won’t really find any of the older ages playing with any plastic toys while they are here.

“Other people’s rubbish is our treasure. It just stops it being thrown out onto a rubbish tip or landfill.

“The parents love it, as you can see because we’re so full up.

“The local authority has given us a lot of support. They’re really encouraging actually. They help out with our basic training and are just really supportive what we’re doing.

“We’ve seen a massive difference in taking the primary colours from the rooms. It left some of the children very over stimulated. The way they’ve started to learn has changed. They used to throw the plastic things around, because there was no consequences.”

READ MORE: Group challenges people to change their attitudes on litter

Early years practitioner Tom Brain, 24, from Tredegar, has been working at the Ebbw Vale site for just over a year.

I’m all for it,” he said.

“It’s nice to do something different. I just think it’s a fresh alternative to the normal way of teaching young children. We’re the only people in Blaenau Gwent doing this, and it works.

“The kids go home absolutely stinking every day. Some parents come in concerned because their children have gone home in clean clothes, and they think something must have gone wrong.”

PRACTICAL ADVICE

EVERY war needs its heroes.

This summer, the South Wales Argus will be bringing you stories from litter heroes from across Newport, Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly County Borough and Torfaen.

But YOU can make a difference too.

By making small changes, every single one of us can help tackle the plague of litter sweeping across Wales.

If you want to get involved in litter picking, or set up your own group, Keep Wales Tidy have this simple advice:

“Small actions can make a big difference. So, when you’re out and about, remember to dispose of your litter responsibly – either put it in the bins provided or take it home with you.

“A growing number of people go one step further and carry out a #2minutestreetclean, #2minutebeachclean or just make a point of picking up five items of litter like crisp packets, plastic drinks bottles or cans.

“Anyone looking to dedicate more time to caring for their neighbourhood can sign up to become a Litter Champion. Keep Wales Tidy will provide all the equipment needed to safely carry out more thorough clean-ups.

“Keep Wales Tidy has project officers in every local authority who support community groups to tackle all kinds of environmental improvement projects. They can help with one-off events or support new groups to get going.

“The charity also runs national clean-up campaigns two or three times a year. The next one to take place is the All Wales Beach Clean (14-30 September),which will also be targeting rivers and other watercourses across the country. All the details can be found on the Keep Wales Tidy website.”

You can get in touch with Keep Wales Tidy at info@keepwalestidy.cymru or call 029 2025 6767

Get in touch with the South Wales Argus to tell us about your success stories to be featured in our campaign, to shout about trouble spots or to nominate a local hero.

GET IN TOUCH

Throughout our War on Litter campaign, we want to feature every litter picking hero and volunteer group that we can. As well as your stories, we want your pictures and videos too. If you would like to be featured, or if you want to send us some pictures of problem areas that deserve attention, get in touch by emailing sam.ferguson@gwent-wales.co.uk or joining our dedicated Facebook group – South Wales Argus: War on Litter.