Schools - Composting Ireland

Welcome to the national Composting for Schools programme – a winner of the 2022 Pakman award for Environmental Awareness and Education.

This programe started as a pilot for schools in the Dublin area but is now going national! In 2023, in addition to continuing to work with Dublin schools, we will be working with schools in Cork County, Laois, Wicklow and Meath. If you are in one of these areas please contact us at info@compostingireland.ie

The video below provides a two minute introduction to the programme.

Watch the video to learn more

The Goals!

The aim of the programme is to help you set up, start or improve composting at your school. We will also make it easy for teachers to access a variety of fun, participatory and interactive activities for school children to learn about ecology, biology and biodiversity. This project will support your Green Schools programme and your UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Programme benefits

Access to an online platform with everything you need
Free expert advice and guidance from our technical specialists
Free composting systems and tools (see last section below)
Participation in and support from an online community of people from other schools
Reducing waste to save money on waste collection costs, money that can be better used to improve your school instead of being thrown away
Producing 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

The main elements or steps of the programme are:

Complete a short 5-10 minute survey to help us understand what is going on in your school. Click on the link below to start the process and sign up for the programme.
Participate in five 1.25 hour training workshops (depending on your local authority area these will either be all online or a combination of online and in-person).
Host a site visit with one of our support staff to understand potential options for waste reduction, source separated collection and on-site composting systems (site visit 1).
Create an action plan for your school that identifies how to reduce, separate and compost waste and how to bring composting into the classroom.
Install and start up your free on-site collection and composting system with assistance from one of our composting experts (site visit 2).
With the help of student teachers, bring fun learning activities into the classroom to engage students as you explore the world of composting.
Participate in a forum with other educators to support your efforts.
At the end of the school year, complete a questionnaire to see what you have accomplished and provide us with some feedback so we can continue to develop and improve the programme for rollout to the rest of the country.

Types of Composting Systems Available

From our experience there are three types of on-site systems that work best in Irish schools:

Compost bins
Leaf mould cages
Wormeries (the kids love them!)

Based on your needs, we will identify which types would work best for your school.

Your school will have a voucher / credit from your local authority for the value of up to €250 to use to purchase in-school collection bins, on-site composting systems and/or tools. For example, you could opt for a food waste package which would include in-school collection bins for use in your canteen or cafeteria, a wormery, worms, pitch fork and watering can. A garden package could contain composting bins, leaf mould cages, a pitch fork and secateurs. We will provide you with a menu of options for you to choose from.