Manage Trash at School

The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Take heart - even one small action does make a difference when it comes to recycling!

·         Find out what's happening in your school.

·         Set something up in your class.

·         Start with a waste audit.

·         List all the items your school throws away. Don't forget places like the classrooms, playground, office and library.

·         Weigh the rubbish from a day's collection.

·         Make a chart showing the different items that are being thrown away. Think about ways these items could be recycled.

·         Set up a recycling centre, with clear labels on each bin used. Differently coloured bins might be a good way to help even the youngest children at school learn the correct bins to put items in.

Radically refusing to rubbish can be easily remembered with following the saying - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

·         Refuse to create rubbish - refuse plastic shopping bags when you can take along a bag of your own. Refuse to buy items that use wasteful packaging.

·         Reduce the amount of rubbish created by sorting rubbish into items that can be recycled.

·         Reuse items whenever possible. For example, paper can be written on both sides, milk cartons can be used again as plant pots.

·         Recycle items by using the recycling centres at landfill and transfer stations, or mending and repairing items so they don't need to be discarded.

Make compost.

Compost is natural fertiliser and soil conditioner that can be made at school or home from organic wastes. In a compost heap, these wastes are converted into rich humus by tiny soil micro-organisms, insects and earthworms.

Compost heaps should be about 1 metre square and half to 1 metre high. Manufactured compost bins are neat, covered containers that can fit in a small space. However, it is easy to make your own.

Compost bins have no bottoms and should be placed on the bare ground. The composting process works best in warm, moist locations.

Recycling paper 

Everybody uses paper in many ways. We use paper to write on, draw pictures on, to print documents from the computer, to wrap presents in and to read about the world new.

 However, paper does take up space in our landfills, and can be recycled.
Most landfills and transfer stations offer paper and cardboard recycling facilities. It is important to separate the two correctly as they are made through different processes.

Most waste paper is used to make paperboard, with some being used in printing and writing paper, tissues and toilet paper. Egg cartons, produce trays and hospital equipment are also made from recycled paper.

White paper has historically been made through bleaching with chlorine. The chemicals used are highly toxic and these can poison rivers and marine areas from waste containing papers made this way. Some manufacturers are using environmentally friendly methods of bleaching using oxygen and ozone