St Bart’s Goes Green

As a school, we are lucky to have incredibly modern buildings and facilities. However, it is clear that we are not considering our environmental impact as much as we should. This is something we want to change and we are going to start by reducing the amount of waste we produce.

Collectively, we generate 7 cubic-meters of non-recyclable waste per week. This waste is incinerated, pumping extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributing to the global warming effect we are now all too familiar with. Even though we are a small part of the population, our impact is still significant.

So in order to cut this down, we have created a new Recycling Area in the Hub. This helps us separate general waste from paper, plastics and food waste so we can increase the amount we recycle and compost. This should dramatically reduce the amount we incinerate and we will be starting to help to save the planet. 

In the canteen everything made in-house will now be in compostable packaging.  All of the food made at our school is served in Vegware, which is made out of vegetable starch and degrades into compost.  The food waste, along with these Vegware containers, wrappers and cutlery are made into compost and topsoil, which is sold in garden centres and to local farmers. So by composting, we are also supporting the local community.

The kitchen will be recycling all food and Vegware and dramatically reducing the volume of non-recyclable waste. All bins will be colour-coded and labelled, indicating where different types of waste and recycling should be put. Additionally, recycling is now something that will contribute towards the House Championship over the next half term.

The Eco-Club meets on Tuesdays at Activity Time in D218. Here we will be doing lots of different activities to research the environment and promote sustainability. We will also be writing to members of Parliament and large companies in order to pressurise them to act sustainably.

Over the next few months, we will be setting challenges to everyone in the St Bart’s community to change how we live so we are healthier and happier, whilst doing our bit for the planet and future generations. Please take part in these challenges.

With these changes, we plan to become the best secondary school in the country at reducing our impact on the environment. It is a fact that time is running out. The scientific consensus is that we only have until 2030 to turn things around so any changes we make now will be significant in determining the future. Now is the best time to act, so let’s start to make a difference!