South Lodge Primary Plan to Slim Their Bin

South Lodge Pupils say "It's Bin Interesting!"

Invergordon's South Lodge primary pupils have taken on a new challenge: to make a major reduction in the school's waste.

Pupils from the Eco Committee, working with RoWAN, collected a day's worth of rubbish then sorted and weighed it to get a picture of what is currently thrown out by the school. The results were eye-opening: the total weight of waste on the day was 30kg, around the weight of a P1 pupil, and over the school year that adds up to almost 6 tonnes. This waste currently goes to landfill in Peterhead, a round trip of 260 miles.

Half the school's weight of waste is food and drink which has not been finished - and sometimes not even started - before becoming rubbish. The rest of the weight of waste is mostly made up of paper, card, and packaging. There were 75 disposable drinks containers, and 64 crisp packets.

Emily, Eco Committee member from P7, said "It was really fun and interesting seeing all the rubbish piled up." Michael, P7, added "I found a Snickers bar and some bags of crisps that hadn't even been opened, and whole apples. It was alarming."

Pupils heard about the audit at special assemblies, with the Eco Committee sharing the stage with the bin bags. Action to reduce waste started immediately, with an art project on refillable bottles, many staff members signing up for RoWAN's Slim Your Bin campaign to tackle waste at home, and P7s acting as lunchtime supervisors to encourage pupils to finish their food.

A very successful Eco Open Day was held on Monday 16th November, with parents and the wider community coming along There were lots of stalls with information on helping the environment. Head Teacher, Lawerence Bews said, "we certainly are planning to cut our waste from nearly 6 tonnes a year - pupils already have lots of practical ideas. Currently we have our Bronze and Silver Awards in the Eco Schools programme, and we're aiming for our Green Flag Award by summer. "