How does it work?

Waste and recycling are both part of the same picture.

Schools purchase a considerable amount of resources to help create an effective and stimulating learning environment. Paper and pens, tables and chairs, computers and white boards, sports equipment and more are purchased. All these are used and ultimately disposed of as waste. Schools also produce other waste. For example waste from food, waste from schools grounds and waste from the things that pupils bring to school and dispose of.

There are two key questions related to the waste produced by a school. Firstly, how can the creation of waste be avoided and secondly how can the amount of waste be reduced? Disposal should always be seen as the last resort.

Reducing waste can involve strategies such as the re-use of items for the same or different purpose. It can involve restoring items that are broken rather than throwing them away. It can involve purchasing products that have as long a life as possible. It can involve recycling.

Recycling has huge benefits. It reduces landfill waste, lowers environmental contamination and conserves scarce natural resources. Recycling also saves energy and hence reduces CO2 emissions. For example, making a drinks can from recycled metal saves 70% in carbon emissions and making a newspaper from recycled paper produces 60% less carbon dioxide. Recycling glass to make bottles saves 20% in emissions which is good, but not as good as reusing the bottle.

Consideration of what to buy, where to source it and what to do with it once the original purpose has been fulfilled or exhausted offers a range of challenges and opportunities.

What data is needed?

To calculate the CO2 emissions from the waste your school produces, the Carbon Detectives Team will need to collect information about the weight of waste produced in a week and the weight of recyclables collected in a week.

Once the data has been entered it is multiplied by carbon conversion factors to give the impact in kilograms of CO2. Recycling waste reduces the impact, but does not eliminate it. For example one kilogram of paper waste produces about 4 kg of CO2, but the same amount sent for recycling produces only 3 kg of CO2.

Purchasing and waste facts and figures

  • Collectively schools dispose of over 600,000 tonnes of waste each year, spending between £300 and £1000 per year on waste disposal, depending on their size.
  • Waste production can be reduced by as much as 20 per cent in many schools, often with little or no capital investment.
  • Food and green waste can make up almost one fifth of the weight of waste in schools.
  • In the UK we produce enough waste to fill the Albert Hall every hour.
  • At present, 73 per cent of all rubbish produced in the UK is dumped in landfill sites. The landfill sites currently in use are almost full, and there is limited suitable land available to build new ones.

What individual pupils can do

  • Participate fully in all school-based recycling initiatives.
  • Minimise waste by using only what they require, and using it fully before disposing of it. For example, using both sides of paper.

What a school community can do

  • Establish a recycling and waste sorting system within school to make sure that the amount ending up in landfill is as small as possible.
  • Start a wormery or compost bin for ground and kitchen waste including tea bags, fruit scraps and some left-over school meals.
  • Hold monthly zero-waste days to see how much waste can be reduced and to help build a school culture that sees this as a positive challenge.

To influence government thinking and policy-making, pupils can:

  • Fully participate in recycling opportunities in the local area to demonstrate the need for such services. Contact their local MP/MEP to request services which may currently be lacking such as the opportunity to recycle plastics.