Cathy Mears-Martin is an environmental activist and author of a new series of children’s books, the ECO Protection squad. After travelling in Asia in 2016, Cathy became more aware of single use waste and began to research the problems and solutions linked to it.
Cathy co-founded a company green team and started an account called sustainable ideas to share advice and guidance She is a Keep Britain Tidy Ambassador and an Environmenstrual ambassador for the women’s environmental network.
Cathy quit her job in December 2019 to focus completely on her passion for a cleaner planet. She became a recycling advisor, and began work on the Eco Protection Squad, a team of super kids helping to save Terra – Mother Earth from Bill McGreedy and his band of Eco squashers I can’t wait to get my copy – can you?
Understanding the common misconceptions about recycling different plastic waste products, the lack of education on what really the Mobius loop symbols (found in plastic products) actually mean, and add the fact that some companies even abuse this ignorance when putting out plastic packaging, Keep Britain Tidy and Plastic Free Period Ambassador, Cathy Mears-Martin knew she had to do something about it.
Cathy knew that she had to help people make simple sustainable swaps with very little impact on their lifestyle. She also created this book to educate kids and adults about the impact of plastic and other wastes we create, make people more mindful of our environment and consciously care for Terra (Mother Earth) in a fun and easy way.
Tune in to this episode as Cathy gives us a glimpse of the Eco Protection Squad characters towards the end, what to look forward to from the Eco Protection Squad, and where you can get them.
Katherine Ann Byam 0:02
I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book.
Cathy, welcome to where it is lunch.
Cathy Mears-Martin 0:05
Thank you, Katherine, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Katherine Ann Byam 0:08
It's wonderful to have you. So I really wanted to understand why you decided to start this project of the Eco Protection Squad. Tell us about that.
Cathy Mears-Martin 0:20
This was a more recent thing. I started this in 2020, January 2020. But actually what led me to even getting on this journey of writing the book was back in 2016, when I suddenly became aware of plastic in my surroundings. And I happened to be in a completely different country which I was very fortunate to be in. It was in Cambodia. And I just remember being in this beautiful waterfall area and seeing some plastic bottles and some bags at the bottom of this waterfall. So I grabbed one of the bags, started putting the rubbish in and collecting it. And then also realising that there's this wicker basket that they used as a bin.
And it just started making me think more about rubbish and how it got to where it was, and what we can do about it. So when I returned back to the UK, I did a little bit of digging into our systems that we have in the UK. And realising how fortunate we are, first of all, that we have a recycling facility. And we have this process that we can use, but also how incredibly confusing it is to understand exactly what should be recycled.
There are labels that have the Mobius loop which is the recycling symbol on everything, which people then think, "Oh, we can recycle this." But actually it comes down to what your council can even accept and what they've then got a chain to sell off to afterwards. So it's not as simple as "this item is recyclable." And that's something that ultimately I'm trying to want to help promote and working towards it does need to be a lot easier. So I knew how complicated this is by doing a bit of research.
And then I was fortunate enough to get a part-time recycling advisory role with Keep Britain Tidy where I was also meeting people who were struggling with recycling and talking to them about what they should or shouldn't put in the bins. But hearing their side of the story firsthand as well. It was just really insightful. And it just made me realise that there is education there. It's just incredibly difficult to find it. So I wanted to find a way to make that so simple for people to understand. And then together, we can all hopefully put pressure on the government and the companies to make it a lot easier for us.
Katherine Ann Byam 2:32
Yeah, that's great because one of the things that I noticed about making my decisions about recycling is sometimes it has the Mobius loop. But it's not even saying that it is recycled. Sometimes it's actually telling you that it's not recyclable, but they have paid to be able to create this waste, right. So they've paid some kind of tax or fee to be able to create this plastic waste which is even more confusing.
Cathy Mears-Martin 2:57
And basically, this idea behind the Mobius loop was to show that it could be recycled. And ultimately, most items can be recycled. It just depends on whether you've got the money to recycle it and whether it's even worth it. Which is why a company like Terracycle does an amazing job because they actually recycled the not commonly recycled items and turned them into new things such as park benches. But it's really not you're not recycling for life; you're degrading it as you go along. And even more complicated is plastic. There are seven different types of plastic but not everybody really knows or understands this.
So with the Mobius loop on a plastic item, it is especially if it's a hard plastic item. It might have a number inside it like a 1, 2,5, or 6 type of thing. And depending on that number denotes whether you can or can't recycle it. Now most councils can recycle plastic bottles, but they might not be able to recycle yoghurt tubs for example, even though they seem really similar. They're both hard plastics, clear trays that you get for mushrooms (not necessarily mushrooms) but fruit, or some veggie that's got that hard, clear tray. That's not recyclable everywhere either even though that's good quality plastic. So it's just, it's just incredibly complicated. And a bit mind blowing. But hopefully, I'm trying to make this really simple for people to just understand what you can and can't recycle and how we can then make it better for us moving forwards.
Katherine Ann Byam 4:23
That's great. And tell us about the journey. So in 2020, January before any of the craziness started, you started this book. Tell us about your journey to make this book become a reality even through an incredible pandemic.
Cathy Mears-Martin 4:38
So in hindsight, I'm not sure whether it was the right decision or not but I actually quit my job and I left. My last day was in December 2019. So knowing that I then obviously didn't have a guaranteed income, but obviously this is still pre-COVID was was exciting at the time. The reason I left my job was to pursue something that was more environmentally-friendly and I wanted to share my knowledge to a wider audience. And it was when I was chatting with my mother-in-law that we hit upon the idea of creating characters to portray certain aspects of waste, and then having them be the body team.
And then I created like this Goody team to counteract them to show people what you can do. So that started off in January, and I think my very first character, my very first two characters, were Single-Use Sally from the Eco Squashers and she's a hoot to write because she's really naughty. And Danny Do Gooder who is the team lead for the Eco Protection Squad. And he was kind of loosely based on my husband because his name was Dan so I kind of wanted to put that in the book. And he wears a cap.
Katherine Ann Byam 5:46
It's great to tell us about these characters. Get into them for us.
Cathy Mears-Martin 5:51
So the Eco protection squad are a team of super kids - a team of diverse super kids who are helping save Terra, Mother Earth from Bill McGreedy and his band of Eco Squashes. The Eco Protection Squads have characters such as I say the team lead Danny do-gooder. You've then got Plastic-Free Prival. She's the litter picking legend for the group. And she's also the defender of the group. You've got Recycling Romesh. He knows anything you could throw at him about recycling.
And you've got Reusable Ralph. He will always find a way to reuse an item and he is also the mischievous one from the group. So it's kind of like just - watch out in case he does something silly. Like you'll see in the book, he throws soda over his teammates to clean them off instead of using water because it was just fun. It's gonna be sticky for them but it was fun. And then the Eco Squashers. You've got Bill McGreedy who is in charge of them. He basically doesn't really care about anything.
He just wants to grow his bank accounts and make as much money as possible. And he's got characters such as Single-Use Sally, who every time she stomps her foot, she will shed plastic. And it's not just plastic. Sorry. It's any single-use item. She'll just shed it around and create extra waste. And she works really well with the toxic twins who are Gabbee Garbage and Larree Landfill. And they come around and the more rubbish that they eat, the bigger and slimier and stickier and smellier they get. And they're sort of like a duo. They'll always be seen together. But yeah, they're sort of really fun characters.
There are more characters to be revealed in later books as well such as Turn The Tap Off Telly, and Willy Water Waste. And then you've got Energy Etsuko and Climate Change Harry. So there's always one on the good side. And there's a counteracting one on the bad side to sort of show you a way that is maybe currently happening. And a way to sort of give you tips and ideas for changes that you can make at home. That sort of means that you're being a little bit more eco-friendly, but probably not having a huge impact on your lifestyle.
Katherine Ann Byam 7:58
That's amazing. I love these characters. Tell us a little bit about maybe the one thing you would do differently now that you've been through this journey.
Cathy Mears-Martin 8:09
To be honest, when I first tried to set this up, I decided that maybe I should try a crowdfunding scheme in order to help raise awareness and build up money for that. And that's because obviously, I wasn't able to work at the time. And it was a real struggle trying to get any type of job. I had to leave my flat and move home. And basically, I just wasn't able to raise the funds that I needed from crowdfunding. So instead, what I did was I actually just put it all on like a credit card.
And I'm now you know, I've taken a risk of myself. And I actually wish that I took that risk a bit earlier because there were obviously some expenses that I paid as a result of doing the crowdfunding side that I wish I could have kept and carried on doing it, just if I believed in myself a little bit sooner. So that's probably the biggest change that I would I would make,
Katherine Ann Byam 9:01
And what was the most rewarding part of this journey for you?
Cathy Mears-Martin 9:05
It's actually right now. I've had a couple of people join. And so every month there is a monthly mission that goes alongside what the characters are trying to achieve. And this month has been Recycling with Romesh. And it's just understanding your recycling at home a little bit better. And with these monthly missions, it's something that I'm running on social media where you can win a copy of my book and a litter picker. So I'm collaborating with a fantastic company called The Helping Hand Company and they've donated 12 litter pickers to me for this year, so one per month, which is incredible.
And it's actually just seeing a couple of people whom I don't recognise their names entering these entering their Recycling with Ramesh mission and it actually brought tears to my eyes when I saw them because it's just giving me such a buzz that people are enjoying it and that they're loving it, and the funny thing is I still haven't seen a copy of my finished printed book because I'm currently in the States. So anyone who's already received it by now has already seen it and played with it and used it more than me. Haven't seen it at all. So I've been told that the quality is excellent.
Katherine Ann Byam 10:16
The pictures look amazing. And this book excites me really. I don't have kids, but I want to get my own copy as well. So I'm working to get that as well. So I guess my final question will be - why don't you share with the audience an excerpt from this book so that they can experience what this is like?
Cathy Mears-Martin 10:36
Okay. And excuse me if I do slightly different voices. I've got a section where we sort of slightly introduce Single-Use Sally. But to set the scene of the story in this very first book, Danny Do Gooder and Plastic Free Prival are going to a park to meet their friend Beth. But once they've sat there, there's more and more people that start joining in and coming and as a result, there's more and more litter that's created. So it's just sort of seeing how the Eco Squashes pop up and what happens. Okay, so are you ready?
"Before long, more and more people enter the park to enjoy the nice weather. This makes it busier, noisier and messier. Beth carries on chatting happily. But Danny is looking around. He begins to feel uneasy. Lots of people are littering.
"Oh!" says Beth. "Did you hear they found a new frog species. How cool is that? I love those ribbiting slimy jumpers."
"That's very cool!" says Danny distractedly. "The bins aren't full yet but a lot of rubbish is on the ground. There are drink cans, bottles, cigarette butts, wrappers, napkins, gloves, and lots and lots of masks." Danny jumps to his feet. He turns. “Prival, look around. With all this litter, we're likely to be attacked by the Eco Squashers.”
“Whoa!" Says Beth, looking around. “I don't understand where people don't put their rubbish in the bin or take it home with them, or even recycle it. The bin men will pick it up though, right?" Beth doesn't notice her napkin tugging free just as it's about to float off in the breeze. And she catches it and says "maybe, but it's not their responsibility to clean it up. We're all responsible for our own rubbish." She turns to Prival "Right?" "We need to prepare for the Eco Squashers. But before he could finish, a loud air passing cackle cut him off." And I'll end there really.
Katherine Ann Byam 12:38
It sounds amazing Kathy. And I think you've been doing such a great job. It will be wonderful if people listening to this program can go and check you out. Tell them how they can find your book.
Cathy Mears-Martin 12:50
Thank you so much. So you can just search ecoprotectionsquad.com. There's a specific website for them online. And they're also on Instagram at @ecoprotection.squad. And also on Facebook as well as the Eco Protection Squad. So I'm also on Twitter, actually. So you can find me through all those social media channels. But yes, just search online at www.ecoprotectionsquad.com.
Katherine Ann Byam 13:19
Perfect. And your book is not available on Amazon. It's not available on normal channels at the moment?
Cathy Mears-Martin 13:26
At the moment. No, that's a very conscious decision. And with the printed book, I am selling that directly at the moment or I am trying to source some independent bookshops that have the same ethics and ethos as the Eco Protection Squad. It's one of my top priorities. It's also why I chose this specific printer that I'm using as well because they're FSC approved.
They work with the Woodland Trust and they themselves actually also do litter picks, etc as well. They're called Ashley House and they've got some excellent green credentials. There is going to be an ebook. But that hasn't been released yet. And when that one gets released, there will be a version available for Kindle on Amazon and some of the other channels.
Katherine Ann Byam 14:10
Perfect. Really great to know. Thanks Kathy so much for sharing these deep gems of gold with us. And I look forward to getting my own copy of the Eco Protection Squad very soon.
Cathy Mears-Martin 14:21
Thank you very much Katherine. Thank you for having me.