SHARE YOUR THINGS, REDUCE WASTE!
To celebrate the release of The Cat in the Hat join the EWWR to discover sharing, creativity and making the most of what we already have to prevent waste.
What if you could have more fun without buying more things?
For this edition, the European Week for Waste Reduction is teaming up with The Cat in the Hat to inspire children, families and schools to rethink how they use the things around them.
Inspired by the upcoming animated film, the “Share your Things, reduce waste!” competition connects the Cat’s adventures with this year’s EWWR focus on Material Sufficiency: making the most of what we already have, sharing with others and discovering new uses for existing things.
Through playful activities, creative challenges and school initiatives, we can all learn that preventing waste starts with a simple idea: we don’t always need something new to have fun!
Why is the EWWR teaming up with The Cat in the Hat ?
The Cat in the Hat shares a multitude of strong narrative links to the EWWR campaign. The EWWR is all about reduce, reuse, rethink and this year’s focus on material sufficiency is emphasises the former. Inspired by the film’s themes of imagination, sharing and giving old items a new life, this campaign encourages you to take action, make a difference and win special prizes!
See The Cat in The Hat only in cinemas but you can already watch the trailer!
4 actions to reduce waste!
Are you a school, an educational organisation or a family looking for a creative way to prevent waste? Get inspired by The Cat in the Hat and organise an action for the EWWR!
Read below the 4 actions that you can organise to join the competition!
Toy swap: share the fun!
Inspired by the Cat’s new friends Gabby and Sebastian, organise a toy swap at school, in a playground, at a library or with a local partner. Invite children to bring toys they no longer play with and exchange them with others. Everyone can discover a new favourite toy while giving pre-loved toys another chance to be enjoyed.
For this action, you will be able to freely download a EWWR x The Cat in the Hat poster to show that you are joining the competition.
Museum of forgotten Things
Every old toy has a story. What is the oldest toy in your home that is still being used? Why has it lasted so long? And what about the toys that have been forgotten? Families can share photos and stories about their oldest toys, while schools can create a Museum of forgotten Things: an exhibition where children present toys they no longer use and tell their stories. Who owned this Thing? Why was it important? Why was it forgotten? Invite families to visit the exhibition and encourage children to give forgotten toys a new home with someone who will enjoy them.
For this action, you will be able to freely download a EWWR x The Cat in the Hat museum label to describe the story of your favorite old toy.
Do we always need new Things?
Bring the message of waste prevention into the classroom with creative educational activities inspired by The Cat in the Hat. Teachers can use a dedicated worksheet and presentation produced by the EWWR to help children explore material sufficiency, rethink consumption habits and discover the value of sharing and reusing. Children can also choose an object from home and invent a story about an animal with a playful rhyming name — perhaps a Rat with a Bat or a Giraffe with a Carafe! What adventures could their character have using things that already exist?
For this action, you will be able to freely download a EWWR x The Cat in the Hat presentation to be used with your students.
Old Thing, new Thing
Can you transform something that would otherwise be thrown away into something useful, surprising or fun? Challenge students to collect suitable recovered materials, such as cardboard, bottle caps, fabric scraps or clean packaging, and turn them into a new game, an extraordinary machine, an useful everyday object. From inventive classroom creations to imaginative works of art, this activity shows that materials can have a second life when we look at them differently.
For this action, you will be able to freely download a EWWR x The Cat in the Hat factsheet with several tips about how to repurpose, reuse and upcycle old materials.
Discover the prizes
Joining “Share your Things, reduce waste!” is a great way to promote waste prevention while having fun and challenging your creativity. For those participating in the challenge we have two exciting prize categories up for grabs:
- For educational establishments: the winning school will receive a selection of materials for its art department.
- For citizens: the winning family will receive a family holiday to Amsterdam, including flights, hotel accommodation and an exclusive tour of the KattenKabinet art museum.
Winners will be selected by the European Cordinator, with one winner in the Educational Establishment category and one in the Citizen category. The winners are scheduled to be announced in early December 2026.
How to join the competition
The competition is open only to action developers part of the categories Education Establishments and Citizen(s).
- Select one of the 4 actions linked to the competition
- Register your action in the EWWR website or in one of the official external platforms by 15 November. Include “Share your Things, reduce waste!” in the title of your action (then you can add a second part of the title in your local language).
- Carry out your action during the EWWR normally, from 21 to 29 November 2026, using the EWWR x The Cat in the Hat materials
- Fill the form by 6 December 2026 (here you will have to include the link to your EWWR registered action) providing some results (people involved, toys exchanged, etc.)
- Winners will be revealed in early December 2026
Have you registered your EWWR actions? Then…
