26.03.2019
This morning I received an email from The Sentinel newspaper that they would like to meet at AirSpace to take some photos of myself with the exhibition. After ringing and agreeing a time, we met at 3:30pm and the photographer took a range of photos. He emailed me some and let me know it would be in Thursdays paper. 

I was thinking about other ways I could make a difference with promoting recycling and reducing plastic pollution, and I decided to write to the council. The road I live on is only supplied with a small box and bag for cardboard and paper. This is not a sufficient container as it is too small and collected only once every two weeks. From speaking to other students and residents in the area, but also just looking at what is put out for collection every 1-2 weeks, its clearly noticeable that plastic items are being thrown away into the general waste bin. This means that items that could be recycled are instead going into our landfills and spilling into our environment and ocean, leaving hundreds - thousands of years of damage and destruction in its trail. Below I have attached the email I sent as a plea to increase the recycling collection to once a week, or supply us with a recycling bin:

Good afternoon, 
I am a student at Staffordshire University living in Shelton in a house of 5. Every week our recycling is over flowing, as we are only given one small box and a bag for paper and cardboard. Not only is this such a small container, but this is meant to last us 2 weeks until collection. I have attached a photo of our box of recycling after just one week. I know that many people in the area have the same problem, and end up throwing items that could be recycled (such as plastic) in the bin because of this. 
I write to you as a plea to supply us with recycling bins or a more frequent recycling collection, so that we can reduce the amount of plastic pollution in our landfills, but also into our environment and oceans. We are at a global point of crisis and for us to reduce the damage we are causing, we first need to stop adding to the problem. I speak for all the students in the area when I say we want to do all we can but feel restricted. If recycling was more accessible it would drastically reduce the amount of waste in our landfills. 
Please help us help our environment. We need to come together as a community to do all we can. 
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your reply. 

Polly Bates