Mrs Recycle Cathy Karniewicz spreads the message about recycling

I F Cathy Karniewicz of Goodleigh were the wealthiest woman in the world she wouldn't be a wasteful one, because Cathy is a firm believer in reducing as much waste as she can, reusing resources, and recycling wherever possible and, as a result of her efforts, she has earned the title, “Mrs Recycle”.

Cathy was born in Barnstaple and some of her happiest childhood memories are at her Gran's farm in Swimbridge. Weekends on Gran's farm instilled in Cathy a love for her animals, environment and the countryside where she spent her formative years. “I have fantastic memories of my days on the farm and can still feel the warmth of a freshly laid egg on my cheek and can still smell the breath of the cows,” she said.

One of Cathy's favourite pastimes on rainy days was exploring the cornucopia of wonderful treasures in her Gran's pink room. “Unfortunately, Gran's sister died in a tragic accident and all her belongings were dispatched to Gran's pink room and for me, it was like my own Aladdin's cave,” she said.

Cathy rummaged through old newspaper cuttings, dressed up in her great aunt's 1930s clothes trying on fur coats and immaculate calf skin gloves. “I am sure that my experiences in the pink room are the reason why I find it difficult to throw things away today,” said Cathy.

When Cathy was studying art and design at North Devon College she enjoyed creating craft from unwanted materials and her tutor suggested she should meet Anna Pawlyn, who was an education officer for North Devon and Torridge District Councils and working out of the South Molton Recycling Centre.

Anna's job was to go into schools to teach youngsters about the merits of recycling. Cathy shadowed Anna around the schools and it wasn't long before Anna could see that Cathy had a real passion for recycling and a natural aptitude for working with children. “I enjoyed working with Anna and learnt lots from her and was delighted when she asked if I would be interested in taking over her role when she retired in 2002,” said Cathy.

She took on her new post with gusto and has worked in almost 100 schools across North Devon where she is known, simply, as “Mrs Recycle”. Cathy believes her job is more than just educating children about recycling. “I see my job as teaching the children how to become recycling teachers. I want them to challenge grown ups when they overlook recycling opportunities,” she said.

The children do take on board what Cathy shares with them and she laughs as she remembers one parent saying to her, “Do you realise my child made me tip out my black rubbish bag so that we could sort the contents for recycling after you visited his school.”

Cathy believes in teaching the children in a fun way and she arrives at the school with her huge bag full of (clean) rubbish. “I cascade the contents across the classroom and we then set about sorting the materials into seven brightly coloured hoops relating to the colours of the rainbow. The pupils sort the materials into the hoops: Paper, metals, clothes, glass, plastics, cardboard and garden waste as I explain the important message that everything was made from something and how recycling will protect the our world, our environment in an imaginative way,” she explained.

Cathy also encourages the children to compost fruit waste and to stick sweet wrappers in their pocket to bring home. Cathy is aware that it can sometimes be confusing for children and adults to differentiate between putting litter in litter bins and keep litter for recycling. “The problem is once you put something into a rubbish bag it goes to our fast filling landfill sites, no one will remove it for recycling!”

She would dearly love to see unobtrusive recycling bins in every high street in North Devon. She has no doubt that it could be done.

“It was 23 years ago when the late Steve Portsmouth, one of the founders of the South Molton Recycling Centre had the vision for every household in North Devon to have a recycling bin outside their home for kerb collection and this is now happening, so anything is possible,” Cathy pointed out.

Cathy's passion for recycling doesn't stop in the classrooms.

She also gives talks to Women's Institutes and many community groups on the advantages of recycling. This Autumn will be running two Art in the Environment courses in two local community colleges.

Cathy is a woman who most certainly practises what she preaches. Together with husband David, a renewable energy installer, and teenage daughters Helen and Emma, they are refurbishing their home — the first bungalow David's father built in the 1960s, to make it a “greener and environmentally sustainable” home. Cathy is proud that it is full of gems she has picked up at jumble sales, local recycling centres and on eBay. Her face lights up, as she shows me her proudest purchase to date which is a fully fitted powder blue 1960s Dainty Maid kitchen which she bought on eBay for £107. Other rooms in the bungalow showcase beautiful leather sofas, tables and chairs, glass shower, curtains, blinds and a washing machine from the North Devon Hospice's Furniture store, which raises money for the charity. The garden has more projects and with the refurbishment work to finish at her home, Cathy will be busy for some time to come.

In the past Cathy and others have made visits to Africa to take unwanted clothes, educational equipment and medical aid to small villages in Gambia, to give to those who have nothing.

Shortly, Cathy will be “de-cluttering” and will soon be selling some of her gems at a car boot sale to raise money for Africa and also former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo's charity, Farms for City Children, which gives inner city children a week working on a farm.

Cathy is adamant that everyone can do their bit for the environment by doing simple things like trying to shop locally, buy British when in season and always remembering to take a re-usable bag when we go shopping and I've made a note never to leave home without one.