Flying start to SCOPE litter campaign at Alness Academy
The Highland Council’s school litter campaign got off to a flying start last week with volunteers and local businesses getting behind the project at Alness Academy.
More than 25 Volunteers from Alness Academy including pupils and staff, West End Community Centre, Community Wardens, ROWAN and Highland Council staff were joined by local businesses such as Morrisons, Lidls, the CO-OP and various other local retailers including the Deep Blue Chip Shop to encourage school pupils to use litter bags/ bins for waste and recycling during the week in various litter “hot spots”.
In return for using the bins provided, pupils were given a token that they were required to return to the school to help reach their target of 450 tokens. Pupils who returned their tokens to the school were also entered into a prize draw to win £10 cash prizes together with prizes kindly donated by local retailers as incentives to reward pupils disposing of their litter properly.
At the end of each day the rubbish and recycling bags/bins were analysed to obtain valuable data about waste generated at school lunch breaks. Over 10 kg of litter was collected during the week, of which nearly half, 4.95 kg, was recycled by the pupils which is really impressive.
Head Teacher Kenneth MacIver (second left in photo was delighted to have got Alness Academy involved in the campaign, He said “I was keen for the school to get involved in this very worthwhile environmental project. The scope project fits well with our ECO school work and the success of the week gives a further boost to various ECO school projects and builds on our existing strong school-community links.”
In total, over 700 tokens were handed in by the pupils, which was way beyond their target for the week. As the school reached their target they will receive £750 to spend on eco equipment or initiatives as part of the campaign. West End Community Centre will also receive up to £500 of funding to spend on eco equipment or initiatives as they provided volunteers during the week.
The Scope Litter Campaign which is being funded by Zero Waste Scotland as part of a Scotland wide trial, aims to reduce the amount of lunch time litter around secondary schools and to build links between the community, businesses and schools.
This week scope is running at Dingwall Academy, Kingussie High School, Inverness High School and Portree High School.