The Oracle

Working together for a greener planet.

10 Top Tips for Recycling at School (Source: www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk)

  1. Use reusable bottles or flasks for your drinks instead of individual cartons or cans and use reusable airtight containers for snacks and packed lunches instead of disposable wrappers.
  2. Encourage your teachers to do double-sided photocopying. This will reduce the amount of paper.
  3. Always use both sides of a piece of paper, before you recycle it or throw it away.
  4. Encourage your school secretaries to reuse envelopes by sticking a label over the old address. This will save money as well as reduce the amount of envelopes that would be thrown away.
  5. Ask your head teacher to think about this idea. Instead of giving out merit/reward slips, have pages in your journal/school diary where teachers can stamp in a merit/reward. This will stop you losing your merit/reward slips and will reduce the amount of waste paper!
  6. Wash out and decorate old catering tins from the kitchen. They can be reused to make very attractive plant pots or large sculptures, such as a totem pole for May day!
  7. Ask your teachers if they can help you to find out if anyone can collect your school's waste paper for recycling. The local council should be able to help you. Most of the waste in a school dustbin is paper and most of that can be recycled. Also encourage your school to buy and use recycled paper.
  8. Make a worm compost bin or see if your local council can provide you with one. You can recycle all the staff's tea bags, your fruit scraps and some of the left over school dinners in a worm bin.
  9. Reuse old paper that can not be written on any more, to make papiermache models or masks. You can also mix it with water and mash it up to make a pulp for 3D modelling or making your own recycled paper - this sounds like fun!
  10. Buy snacks with less packaging on them. For example you could buy an apple instead of a packet of crisps. Or you could bring cake or biscuits in to school from a large bag/packet at home instead of buying individually wrapped biscuits or cakes. This will reduce the amount of packaging waste that you throw away.