Description of the EWWR action

As a school, we have performed a number of actions with the aim of reducing waste. One such action is recycling the lids of cardboard boxes containing A4 paper for printing delivered to school. These lids have been decorated by our students and labelled with the class names. These have been distributed to all the classes within the school in order for the students to be able to place used paper within them, which can in turn be used as rough paper during lessons and class work. In this way both the cardboard boxes and papers used by students are being re-used and thus waste is being reduced.

In order to reduce waste production within events such as the school concert, Christmas party, prize day and parents’ day our school does not provide single use plastic cups and plates. Instead, we have produced a large number of re-usable cups with the school logo printed on them, which are distributed to parents and students during these events and collected at the end for washing and storing.

Last year our school collected used and unwanted clothes, scarves, bags and accessories from students and staff. These items were then used by the school eco-committee to set up a thrift shop where students and staff members can buy these pre-loved items. Some items of clothing have been repurposed within the fashion and textiles lessons at school where some items were embellished whilst others, such as old t-shirts were re-purposed into tote bags and re-sold. Students also collected old beads from broken bracelets and necklaces and made new bracelets using these beads and elastic. These bracelets were then sold at the thrift shop.

One other innovative action taken at school was the repurposing of old and chipped lab equipment. Beakers and conical flasks were decorated by members of staff and students during free lessons. These were then sold as small decorative vases at school events such as Parents’ Day and prize day. Old test-tube holders were re-purposed as plant holders which were sold as decorative items for indoor or outdoor spaces. Old and chipped plastic petri dishes were used to package bracelets being sold within the thrift shop instead of using paper or plastic bags. In this way rather than throwing old apparatus away, it has been re-used in a variety of ways.

As well as re-purposing old clothes, items such as paint lids, old plastic funnels and plastic corks were sprayed gold and used to create props such as shields and hats for soldiers to be used and worn for the prize day play. In this way apart from reducing waste production, props were created using readily available items which reduced production costs considerably. Additionally, fabric scraps, old curtains and leftover fabric was used to sew costumes for the play instead of buying new costumes or fabric from a store.

Another instance where discarded fabric was salvaged was during a team building activity within a staff COPE session. Staff members were given the task of creating a look/outfit in order to imitate celebrities such as film stars or singers. In order to do so they designed and created these looks using old fabric, accessories and pins.

Finally, as a school two clean ups have been organised. The first clean-up was undertaken during the school marathon where students from all classes collected waste at Buskett. The second clean-up was carried out at St. Thomas Bay, Marsascala by a group of Prince’s Trust students as part of the teambuilding module.