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Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council works in partnership with Gomersal Middle School in West Yorkshire, developing and supporting a comprehensive recycling scheme. A number of recycling facilities have been provided at the school by the Council, including paper, glass, can and textile recycling banks and an Oxfam book bank. Nearly 10 tonnes of waste are recycled each year through this site.
The school also collect plastic ring holders from multi-packs of food and drink cans, for recycling through the Ring Leader scheme, these are delivered back to the manufacturer for recycling. Aluminium foil is collected for Ravensthorpe Social Education Centre, a centre for adults with learning difficulties, who bale the foil for recycling. The School has developed strong links with a school in Mara, Tanzania and collects used carrier bags, pencils, soap, T-shirts, blankets and film canisters which are exported for reuse and recycling by this school.
Pupils have helped to promote recycling in the community through involvement with launches for several recycling schemes. A mini-enterprise recycling company has been formed, managed by a pupil led management committee. The scheme has been supported by an education programme within the school and the local community.
Many residents and pupils recycle through the school even with the introduction of a household recyclables collection. Both the Council and School hope to see it continue successfully into the next century.
Lewis Girls' School is currently working with the Tidy Britain Group to become an environmentally friendly 'Eco-School'. A committee of staff and pupils carried out an environmental review of the school and produced an action plan geared towards reducing, re-using and recycling waste. The committee then put their ideas into practice and monitored and evaluated their actions.
Can Recycling - After surveying the number of cans used in school it was decided that a recycling area should be developed, and Caerphilly Borough Council provided a can bank for this. Pupils collect cans in 'green bins' around the school before transferring them to the can bank. A poster campaign informed pupils of this facility. Can tops are also collected for the Cancer Research charity.
Paper Recycling - The school works with Severnside Waste Paper and organises a collection of waste office paper around the school in special bins. Severnside collect the paper when 20 bags are ready. Other scrap paper is used to make re-used note pads for pupils. Their own recycled paper has been produced and used to make greetings cards for sale in school. A collection of Christmas cards was arranged for recycling at Boots raising money for tree planting schemes. Stamps are collected for the South Wales Echo guide dog appeal.
Litter - Litter surveys, a poster campaign, litter pick, competitions and more litter bins in school (including two dolphin litter bins purchased through the sale of school dolphin pens) have addressed this issue.
Composting - An area has been created in the school grounds for composting. Leaf litter is collected, a liquid fungus applied and then left to decay. This compost is then used by the school gardener. Worm bins are also used.
Competitions and events to encourage recycling have included:
Using household waste to design and make an Easter bonnet, a collage, or a fashion garment; design of an environmentally friendly logo for a T-shirt; writing a poem based on an environmental theme; writing a limerick on litter; 'Action Day', an event to encourage participation from the whole school, including a display and activities area for classes to visit and a litter pick in the afternoon.
This project grew from an Eco-conference held at Filton College in October 1995 when two pupils were commissioned as 'Eco-Ambassadors' by David Bellamy. They set up an Eco-group, including pupils, teachers and non-teaching staff. The group developed a scheme to recycle all waste paper from the school.
The Eco-Schools Award Scheme sets out steps to follow moving from environmental awareness to environmental action giving a structure and incentive for the project.
Paper recycling was chosen as the best way to show the whole school that environmental action was achievable. Success helped the school win Green Flag and Eco-School status in December 1996.
Keys to Success
The System
1) ALL rooms and offices have a new GREEN waste bin for recycling. 2) ALL WASTE PAPER is placed in new GREEN bins. 3). ALL OTHER waste is placed in the original grey bins.
Costs & Funding
Costs
3 large Euro bins at £280 + VAT £ 840
100 classroom bins at £2.60 + VAT £ 260
Total Cost £1100
A very generous environmental grant of 80% of the set up cost was given by Northavon DC.
Savings
The school now uses two less Euro bins for general waste, costs of emptying them are thus reduced, at £248 bin/pa to have emptied once a week, this is a saving of £496 a year.
Whilst it took effort and commitment to set up and to keep running smoothly, the school feels that this has all been worthwhile because it has raised awareness of environmental issues and showed students that they can take action to improve their environment - SUCCESSFULLY!
Over the past three years, Landwise, the Glasgow recycling and environmental charity, has implemented a series of education initiatives in Glasgow primary schools through a dedicated environmental education programme. This began with the development of a recycling pack and progressed on to the production of a giant puppet show, culminating in a show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1994.
1995/6 saw the launch of the Environmental Story Telling Challenge which has continued to run in 1996/7. The Story Telling Challenge gives primary school children the challenge of communicating an environmental message using puppets, props and musical instruments made from waste. The message may be about a specific environmental topic e.g. pollution, an environmental concern to their area or any theme which highlights the importance, fragility or beauty of an environment.
Three categories exist within the Challenge, lower primary, upper primary and special needs. A winner from each category received £250, all other participants receive certificates and prizes.
A series of six workshops run by Landwise are allocated for each participating school taking part in the Challenge. Workshop topics include:
The Landwise Education Programme has been supported by sponsorship from UK Waste Management Ltd, Scottish Natural Heritage and Glasgow City Council.
The aim of the day was for pupils to develop a product and set up a company, while obtaining:
The day used group sessions, guided by an external adviser, in which groups of pupils formulated a business plan and the design of a product using recycled material. The scene was set by discussing waste reduction and recycling issues, and pupils then assigned themselves to various tasks such as corporate identity, advertising, design, manufacturing and finance, generally working out how their company would operate. Advisers encouraged consideration of environmental issues and the effects of their decisions. At the end of the session each group presented their company, its' product range and tried to persuade the audience to buy it!
The day was fairly simple and very successful. Keys to this success were: pre-planning, a well timed schedule, the quality of the guidance resources available to both advisers and pupils, bags of interesting (and clean!) rubbish, and the general knowledge pupils already held.
The result was a range of innovative recycled products, made by companies with well thought out business plans, financial systems and marketing strategies, displays of outstanding computer skills, some wild product making in the workshops (maybe the hacksaws weren't a good idea!) and some very entertaining presentations and persuasive marketing skills!
The day was of great benefit in both environmental and vocational terms. Pupils had previously covered waste issues in lessons and enjoyed talking to people who actually worked on these issues. It prompted thought about employment issues, the different roles which exist within business and the amount of underlying issues which need to be sorted out before a product can appear in the shops. It also gave them opportunities to utilise individual skills such a model making, computing, and design, for the benefit of the team as a whole, reinforcing the benefit of team work in practical situations.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?... No, it's another successful recycling initiative!
When it comes to green super-heroes, Cornwall has invented a far more eco-friendly character than the incredible hulk: Captain Compost. Faster than a speeding shovel, more powerful than the smell of fertiliser, this caped recycling crusader is the brain child of the pupils of a small West Cornwall primary school, and has helped to encourage everyone in the county to, quite literally, save the earth by home composting.
Penwith District Council set the challenge, Cornwall County Council's Recycling Education Officer, Richard Bower, acted as co-ordinator, and the children of Ludgvan County Primary school near Penzance provided the fertile imaginations. This all lead to the creation of an effective and easy-to -understand leaflet introducing the world's first super hero in wellies, boldly spreading the message that Healthy earth equals Healthy EARTH!
The school project began with the tumbler composter by Penwith District Council. The young scientists of Ludgvan School took temperature readings from their compost heap, comparing differentials, producing bar charts and studying microbiological activity and decay rates by taking samples. All this work, and the production of the leaflet, was very relevant to their Key Stage 2 studies in English, Science, Art, Design, Media and Environment.
The entire guide, from 'Captain Compost' concept to the proofing of the leaflet-was the work of the school pupils and their teacher, although the finished product was given a bit of a professional gloss by the County Council's central design and print team. 10 000 copies of the leaflet are now being distributed within Penwith District Council.
And you can be sure the leaflets were printed on recycled paper. When shredded they mulch down into just the kind of fertiliser that Captain Compost definitely approves of !
Organic Recycling In Breckland (ORB), Breckland District Council's home composting promotion was launched in 1995 with the help of the Chapel Road Special School, one of the schools acting as community agents for the Council.
The scheme has enabled the school to increase their profile in the local community as well as receiving direct cash benefit. They sold a total of 42 composters, about a fifth of all sales for the Council by community agents. Sales came from parents and from the pupil's leaflet drop which helped to publicise the ORB scheme locally. This also helped the school forge better links with their own local area.
The composters were delivered directly to the school who made the arrangements for customers to collect or deliver the units. The school also received a free composter and enthusiastic pupils now compost organic waste including lunch scraps. The school received £1.00 commission for each unit sold
Following ORB's first successful year, both Chapel Road School and the Council celebrated with an afternoon of games and activities, pupils had even cooked cakes in the shape of worms! The gardening club at the local secondary school joined in the activities, again forging links with other areas of the community.
The ORB scheme continues into its second year offering householders home composters and worm bins at discounted prices. The purpose of this promotion is to encourage people to cut down on the amount of organic waste simply thrown away. Links to education and awareness raising work taking place in local schools help increase the success of the scheme and young peoples' understanding of environmental issues.
This 450 pupil school already had a strong recycling and waste awareness culture when it became involved with Dorset County Council's waste minimisation scheme. Before introducing a paper recycling scheme, the school produced a low 3.6 tonnes of waste per year reflected in the relatively low costs of disposal - £400 pa.
Although the scheme focuses on paper, staff also retrieve plastics, glass and cans and take them to local recycling banks. Paper recycling banks have been sited in the school playground since December 1995, for mixed paper and cardboard. Nine months later, 3.7 tonnes had been collected - this equates to 37 trees! Income generated from paper recycling is used for purchasing books for the Humanities Department which run the scheme.
Paper is re-used before recycling for rough work, cut-offs of card from a local business are used as scrap for teaching, and newspapers are used by the art department. Paper recycling has actually saved the school an estimated £200 pa in waste disposal costs. Savings have also been made through re-use of paper and card before recycling - reducing the amount purchased.
Other initiatives include: text books are repaired where possible to extend their life, then donated to the local community or developing countries. Parents donate material to use in the art department, for example: toilet rolls, yoghurt containers, bottle tops. Waste from building material is also re-used. metal sold to a scrap merchant raised £100-£200; wood was used in the woodwork class or given away as firewood, bricks were kept for re-use in new building work. Grass cuttings are left to improve the turf, waste from pruning etc. is used as mulch or firewood.
The school consolidates its waste saving programme by buying recycled where possible. Toner cartridges for printers are also returned for re-manufacture, purchase of re-manufactured cartridges gives saving of 20-30%.
Re-use and recycling within the school helps promote a strong message of the value of materials and supports curricular activities. Ideas to extend the scheme include introducing a worm bin to compost kitchen waste.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council's Green Schools Campaign has been running for the past two years to promote, encourage and increase awareness of environmental issues such as recycling and litter control in schools. The Campaign offers support to teaching staff by providing additional information, resources and advice for environmental projects and initiatives.
The Council has worked closely with the staff and pupils of Exhall Grange Special School for several years. A 'Green Team' of upper school pupils meet once a month to discuss improvements to the schools environment. They have a particular interest in recycling and support the aluminium can recycling scheme operating in the school.
When this scheme first began, the Green Team identified the problem that the promotional posters did not give partially sighted children a clear, visible message about the importance of sorting the aluminium cans from the steel. The Council's Recycling Officer suggested that the Green Team encourage their fellow pupils to design their own posters, and offered gift vouchers as prizes for the winners. Canbank Recycling, who collect the cans from the school gave T-shirts and activity books to the winners and badges to all entrants. 'Ali-Can' also attended the prize giving to the delight of the children.
Cans are collected by the green team on a weekly basis and stored until Canbank recycling collect them. Revenue from the sale of the cans is being used to purchase plants for the School's sensory garden.
This environmental education programme for schools is run by the Groundwork Foundation and funded by UK Waste Management Ltd through a tax rebate on its Landfill Tax payments.
UK Wastesavers has run as a pilot to date but during 1997 hopes to involve 10,000 children in 100 schools across the country. The three different types of project are aimed at improving the understanding of waste and it's importance in modern society. The types of project are:
1) School - Landfill Site Link
Schools use the landfill site as a valuable resource to bring to life aspects of the national curriculum:
2) School - Material Recovery Facility Link
This project emphasises the potential practical uses of products normally thrown away:
3) LitterWatch
Encourages children to analyse and be aware of the negative effects of waste in local communities:
Through partnerships between schools, Groundwork and landfill sites or recycling plants, a wide range of national curriculum subjects will become real and relevant for pupils.
Contact Waste Watch for further details of the above projects and for more case studies.