Today we celebrate Earth Day – a day that honours the achievements of the environmental movement and raises awareness of the need to protect Earth’s natural resources for future generations.

If you would like to do some reading on the environment, climate change or other aspects of the natural world, each of our libraries has a selection of books for people of all ages on a range of topics, including fiction titles and reference books.

Today, our libraries across Blaenau Gwent are also launching their Little Veg Libraries, which offer a FREE selection of seeds to anyone when they take out a book at their local library.  There’s a wide variety of vegetable and herb seeds to choose from, perfect for starting your own little vegetable patch or herb garden at home.  We also have a range of books on gardening for anyone who needs a little extra help or inspiration.

As Community Litter Picking Hubs our libraries are also helping local communities around Blaenau Gwent to tackle the issue of litter and plastic pollution by loaning out FREE litter picking kits. As part of the Libraries Vs Litter campaign we are also working with schools and community groups to help them tackle litter and look after the environment.

Libraries have always championed the environmentally friendly message of re-use, recycle and repeat - encouraging our communities to borrow books, return them and then repeat, but here’s some other ways our libraries are endeavouring to lower our carbon footprint and help to combat climate change:

• We have switched to ABS library cards for our members, which are made from recycled PVC and are 100% recyclable.

• We are an active member of the Books4U scheme, which provides FREE access to books across public libraries in South Wales, which not only helps us to improve our offer, but it also reduces waste.

• We upcycle and repurpose some of our discarded book stock for art and craft activities.

• We work with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council to actively distribute recycling bags and battery sacks to local residents.

• Working in partnership with the Local Authority we have installed energy efficient lighting in all our libraries, which not only helps us to reduce our energy bills but also our carbon emissions.

• We have developed a ‘library of things’ for our local communities which offer more items to borrow than books – this includes our Sports Libraries providing a range of sport and fitness equipment, tablet loan scheme, selection of World Book Day costumes and the little seed library. 

• We are piloting an initiative to test the life span of books without using plastic jackets – helping us to further reduce the amount of plastic we use in the libraries.

For more information on your local library, visit our website, or pop into your local library branch for a visit and a chat.