Guide to Recycling for Schools
There are more than 24,000 schools in the UK attended by around nine million pupils – including both primary and secondary schools. Every educational establishment creates lots of waste that needs managing effectively. This includes leftover food in the cafeteria, used workbooks, e-waste from the IT department, and broken sports equipment.
It’s estimated that every primary school pupil creates 45kg of waste each year, while the average secondary school student produces 22kg of waste annually. This adds up to huge volumes of waste, but the good news is that 80% of school waste is recyclable. However, very few UK schools recycle that much.
Recycling for schools is important as it teaches the importance of looking after the environment practically. Plus, it reduces landfill tax costs for waste disposal to free up more budget to invest in education. Use these ideas for recycling at school to improve your school’s sustainability whether you’re a teacher, member of staff, or pupil.
Set up a school recycling program
School recycling programs should be in place at every educational establishment across the UK. This is a waste management plan that identifies the types of rubbish the school produces, how and where it’s stored, who collects it, how it’s disposed of, and the costs involved.
Conduct a waste audit to start by reviewing the types and volumes of waste your school creates. Cover all areas such as classrooms and the cafeteria to toilets and playgrounds. Once you’ve got an idea of the rubbish generated you can put in place steps to increase recycling where possible.
School recycling programs should include:
- Recycling bins – use a range of bins for different recyclable rubbish to separate waste streams. This includes bins for paper and cardboard recycling, plastic recycling, metal (drink cans), and glass recycling.
- Clear labelling – colour code recycling bins so it’s clear and easy for pupils to throw away rubbish in the right ones to reduce the risk of contamination.
- Effective placing – put recycling bins close to the point of production, such as paper recycling bins near printers, plastic waste bins in the canteen, and glass recycling bins in the school kitchen.
- Environment officer – appoint someone to oversee recycling in the school, whether a teacher or other member of staff. They can take charge of the program and work to ensure recycling happens across the entire school environment.
- Recycling targets – review how much waste is currently recycled and then set realistic goals within your school recycling program. This helps assess whether your actions are effective and if more work is required to boost recycling.
Go for glass over plastic
Glass is infinitely recyclable, whereas some types of plastic are trickier to recycle. Therefore it’s better for the environment to use products at school in glass bottles and jars rather than plastic bottles and containers. This applies to bottles of milk in classrooms, ingredients bought for school kitchens, and juices.
There may be concerns about safety due to the risk of broken glass at school. A good way to reduce this is by having teachers and staff pour any drinks from glass bottles into reusable plastic cups. These can be washed and reused, which eliminates single-use plastic waste and improves recycling rates for waste glass.
Select sustainable suppliers
Packaging waste can present a problem for many schools as they have no control over how goods are presented. Everything from ingredients and food for the canteen to textbooks, sports equipment, and toiletries will all be delivered in some kind of packaging to protect their contents.
Bulk buying is a good way to reduce packaging waste, as less shrink wrap or paper should be used to protect the goods. Another eco-friendly option is to work with suppliers that only use recyclable packaging materials – ideally paper and cardboard. This way you can recycle such waste easily in your school’s recycling bins.
Reward green pupils
Introducing a little competition is a great way to engage pupils to recycle at school. It could be a friendly challenge between classrooms or forms to see which one recycles the most by the end of the week. Put an empty dry mixed recycling bin in each then weigh and compare results when the school week is over.
On-the-spot rewards for pupils seen by teachers and staff recycling rubbish properly is another good incentive. This can be as simple as giving any student caught putting a plastic bottle in the correct recycling bin a reward (like a sweet). Word should quickly spread to encourage more pupils to actively recycle.
Look out for recycling competition between schools as well. There are various initiatives run throughout the year aimed at improving recycling rates for schools through competition. These have included the Schools Recycle Right Challenge by Planet Ark and the Green School Project by TerraCycle.
Make recycling education enjoyable
One of the best ways to engage pupils and encourage recycling in school is to make environmental education fun. Consider these options to increase enjoyment around recycling at school:
- Book recycling trips – arrange days out for classes at local recycling facilities where they can tour the plant and learn more about how recycling works.
- Bring in guest speakers – invite guest speakers into school who work in the recycling world to talk at assemblies and improve pupils’ understanding of recycling.
- Design recycling posters – set tasks or even competitions for students to design the best posters that convey messages about the importance of recycling.
- Use recycling as a topic – drama and media classes could have projects and performances based around recycling.
- Celebrate recycling days – consider themed fancy dress days, activities, and other celebrations for days and weeks that focus on recycling.
Recycle educational e-waste
The ongoing digital transformation that sees the world rely more on technology also impacts classrooms. Schools still produce plenty of paper recycling, but many more classrooms use laptops, tablets, and other technology to replace physical books, paper, and other materials. It means schools produce much more e-waste than ever before.
Recycling e-waste is possible and should be done to avoid old electronics ending up in landfill. It ensures precious metals are recovered and other materials such as plastic casings and metals are recycled. Donate any old laptops, computers, and printers that still work but those that are broken and irreparable should be sent for WEEE recycling.
Review recycling rates
Regularly review recycling activities and results across your school to assess the effectiveness of your plans and actions. This highlights where recycling is improving so you can replicate activities elsewhere within your school. It should also help identify any issues and opportunities to increase recycling.
At Business Waste we can help schools anywhere in the UK arrange regular recycling. We provide free bins with no delivery or rental fees to help save money on your waste management costs. Get a free quote for recycling collections from your school today – call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online to find out more.
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