Eco-Schools Award Advent Calendar 2019
National Waste Topic Award Winners:
Dean Trust Ardwick
“It was fantastic to see how passionate the pupils and staff were.”
Dean Trust Ardwick established their Eco-Committee in September 2018 and are now a Silver award Eco-School. One of the Eco-Committee’s first actions was to take a lead on Waste Week. They introduced the school to looking after their local environment through regular litter picks. Litter picking has now been embedded into school life with each class being included in a yearly, litter-picking schedule.
Following the success of the Eco-Committee’s Waste Week, the committee decided they wanted to do more to tackle single-use plastics in Dean Trust Ardwick. They wrote and delivered a whole school assembly on single-use plastics, before creating informational posters and hosting a competition. The competition involved each form group collecting as many plastic bottles as possible. The school, as a whole, collected nearly 50 bin bags of bottles! Next, Manchester City Council were contacted and they sent Wendy the Waste Eater to begin the recycling process.
As well as encouraging recycling, the Eco-Committee thought it was important to tackle their plastic problem at its source. They researched reusable bottles and found a brand that they are now selling at school and placed a ban on selling bottled water in the canteen (despite bottled water previously generating part of the school’s income). To help with this issue even further, they also introduced water fountains throughout the school and have even created an advertising campaign to try and sell their reusable plastic bottles.
Since beginning their Eco-Schools journey, the vast majority of staff at Dean Trust Ardwick agree that plastic waste has been reduced. Their Eco-Committee have also received positive endorsement from Manchester City Council’s Waste Service team. Now, the Eco-Committees next steps are tackling paper waste in their school, and of course achieving their first Eco-Schools Green Flag award.
