Reducing waste in schools
Our Waste Aware Team can visit your school or youth group to do some fun stuff to help raise awareness about waste issues, all for free.
We can do workshops on recycling and composting. We can also do talks on waste minimisation.
To arrange a visit at your school or borrow from the resource library, get in touch.
Top tips for reducing waste in schools
Reduce
Make small changes to reduce the amount of waste your school or workplace produces every day by:
- setting printers up to print double sided as a default setting
- encouraging everyone to print e-mails only when absolutely necessary
- only using one paper towel at a time
- avoiding disposable, single use products, such as cleaning wipes
Reuse
Find ways to reuse items instead of throwing them away - by repairing, sharing or repurposing them. You can do this by:
- having a well labelled scrap paper tray in every room
- encouraging everyone to bring in waste-free packed lunches and snacks
- using refillable food containers and bottles and avoiding over-packaged foods
- reusing envelopes. Envelope reuse labels can help to cover up the previous address and reseal the envelope. You can make your own or try to source some from a local charity
- using rechargeable batteries
- reusing plastic containers such as yoghurt pots and margarine tubs for use during art activities
- setting up a collection for spectacles to donate to Vision Aid, an organisation that sends unwanted spectacles to developing countries to be reused
Recycle
Recycling helps turn waste into something useful. Use your bins and local services to recycle as much as possible:
- recycle as much as possible in your school's recycling bins
- use your local recycling point for textiles and glass
- compost your organic waste such as fruit peelings, tea bags and any garden waste. The compost that you make can be used to improve your soil
- you can raise some money either for the school or for charity by recycling old mobile phones and ink cartridges
- consider composting cooked food waste with a wormery
- collect used stamps and send to a charity