Park Pupils Challenge Waste

Park Pupils Challenge Waste

How much waste does our school produce? What’s in all those bins anyway? These are the questions that pupils of Invergordon’s Park Primary School set out to answer, with the aim of reducing the schools’ rubbish. Reducing, Reusing and Recycling, the 3Rs of waste, saves money and resources and helps tackle climate change, which affects us all.

With the help of Ross-shire Waste Action Network (RoWAN), school Eco Committee members gathered in 24 hours’ worth of school waste, sorted and weighed it. All pupils separated their lunch waste into cooked and uncooked food, packaging and drinks containers from school meals and packed lunches. All the bins were gathered in, as was the paper for recycling and the compostable waste which the school already collects.

Lizbeth Collie from ROWAN said “The results give clear pointers. Of a total of 27 kg of waste from the day, almost half was food waste. This means that the school generates 5.4 tonnes of waste per school year. 2 ½ tonnes of this is food waste, with other main materials being packaging and drinks containers from school dinners and packed lunches, unfinished drinks, food waste that could have been composted and paper that could have been recycled.

If the school recycled all their paper and composted all their uncooked food waste, they could reduce waste by 1.3 tonnes per year. And if everyone ate all their cooked food and sandwiches then almost another whole tonne could be kept out of landfill.

Having said that, Park pupils and staff are already keeping lots of waste out of landfill. Over a tonne of paper and cardboard is recycled yearly and more than half a tonne of uncooked food waste is composted. That’s really great.”

At a special assembly to present the results, Eco Committee member Ross Macleod said “Lots of people don’t finish their sandwiches, and we saw lots of foil and plastic. Using a plastic tub and a refillable drinks bottle means less packaging.”

Fellow pupils Lucy Weston and Rebekah Brown added “There was lots of paper in the bins which could have been recycled and also lots of paper which could have been used on the other side before it was put in the recycling box. It’s a shame.”

Eco Committee Staff member Roisin Newell said “We were surprised by just how much waste there was. The Council gave us boxes for paper collection which has been a great help and school meals waste has been cut by pupils making their meal choice in the mornings, so that canteen staff only cook what is needed. We look forward to the next steps as we aim to achieve our Green Flag in the Eco Schools Awards scheme.”