Schools

The Goals

The aim of the programme is to help schools prevent waste and improve recycling, including the separation of food waste for brown bin collection, to reduce waste, save money and combat climate change.

The programme also helps schools improve their gardening efforts, set up or upgrade on-site composting systems for landscape and gardening materials, and increase biodiversity around their schools.

All of these activities assist schools with attaining their Green School Flags and reaching their Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition, the programme gives teachers access to a variety of fun, participatory and interactive activities for students to learn about recycling, composting and gardening.

These activities support student’s understanding of the underlying principles of ecology, biology and biodiversity that underpin all life on our planet.

Programme benefits

• Access to an online platform with everything you need
• Tailored advice and guidance from our technical experts
• Free recycling bins, food waste caddies, composting systems and tools (see below)
• Participation in and support from an online community of people from other schools
• Reduction of waste to save money on waste collection costs, money that can be better used to improve your school instead of being thrown away
• Production of your own compost to enrich your school garden, wild flower area, orchard, mini forest or landscape
• Satisfaction that you are taking action to become part of the solution in our efforts to address climate change

Here’s how it works

1. Complete a short 5-10 minute survey to help us understand what is going on in your school. Click on the local authority link where your school is located below to start the process and sign up for the programme
2. Participate in five 1.25 hour online training workshops (late afternoon or evening sessions available)
3. Host a site visit with one of our support staff to understand potential options for waste prevention, reduction, recycling and composting (site visit #1)
4. Create an action plan tailored for your school that identifies a few opportunities to reduce waste, improve recycling, start composting and increase biodiversity
   around your school.
5. Install, start up and/or improve your recycling and composting systems with assistance from one of our technical experts (site visit #2).
6. Bring fun and interactive learning activities into the classroom to engage students as you explore the world of better waste management, gardening and biodiversity.
7. Participate in a forum with other educators to support your efforts
8. Complete a questionnaire at the end of the school year to see what you have accomplished and provide us with some feedback so we can continue to develop and improve the programme for other schools.

Types of Composting Systems Available

Your school will receive a credit from your local authority for a value of €150-300/school to spend depending on the county your school is located in. During the training, we will. provide you with a menu of items for you to choose from including but not limited to the. list from 1-6 below.

The following is a list of some of the recycling bins and composting systems that will be made available. This is not an exhaustive list, so based on your needs, we will select the best combination of items to support your school’s action plan.

1. Colour-coded rubber tubs for collecting mixed recyclables and waste within your school
2. 7L & 25L caddies to collect food waste within your school
3. Compost bins
4. Leaf mould cages
5. Wormeries (the kids love them!)
6. Composting & gardening tools, supplies, seeds and plants