Rigside Primary School
Litter and Waste
Minimisation
Position Statement
Rigside Primary School
Litter and Waste Minimisation Position Statement
Rationale:
Rigside Primary School strive to ensures the environment of the school and wider
community of Rigside is a clean, tidy, healthy and litter-free place to work, live and learn in.
Rigside Primary School is an Eco School. We have achieved our first Green Flag and are
working to maintain our Green Flag status. As part of the work on this, we encourage pupils,
staff and visitors alike to respect the school and wider environment.
Definition of Littering and Waste:
Litter is generally caused by humans and can happen through the following:
- humans deliberately dropping waste
- humans dropping waste by accident
- humans not cleaning up after themselves or their pets
- blowing of waste from place to place
Although nature causes litter, e.g. dead leaves, nature’s litter is fully biodegradable and as a
result, doesn’t have an adverse affect on the environment. Human litter, however, can take a
long time to degrade naturally. This can not only make the environment unattractive, but can
also be dangerous to humans and wildlife.
The government takes littering very seriously, as outlined in The Environmental Protection
Act (1990). As a result, local authorities and schools have an obligation to ensure littering is
reduced and minimised:
In terms of the law, local authorities have a responsibility to make sure that the
grounds of their schools are kept free of litter. Any private individual can take a
local authority to court for having litter in a school’s grounds if the litter is still
present five days after the individual has given the authority written notice of
their intention. The authority could be fined up to £2500, plus a daily fine until
the litter is cleared.
Eco Schools Scotland
Waste or rubbish is what humans throw away because they no longer want or need it.
Disposing of waste and rubbish can be difficult and expensive. Often waste and rubbish are
deposited on landfill sites or burnt in incinerators. Landfill sites are becoming full, and are
beginning to affect people’s health. As a result, we need to look at more sustainable ways of
getting rid of our waste and rubbish. The government are therefore encouraging people to
minimise waste by considering the “Three R’s” – reduce, reuse and recycle. This supports
the idea that waste is often rubbish in the wrong place.
Aims:
Rigside Primary School aims to:
- support the Government’s priorities on litter and waste
- ensure the school and local environment of Rigside are clean, tidy and healthy
places to work, live and learn in
- reduce, reuse and recycle waste and rubbish
- promote respect for the local environment
- communicate our litter code and policies to the whole school community
Litter and Rigside Primary School:
At Rigside Primary School we have a Litter Patrol, who oversee litter in the school. At
playtimes and lunchtimes, they encourage children to put litter in the bin, and pick up any
litter, which has been dropped or been blown into the school. They also report back to the
whole school regularly at assemblies, class meetings, etc to keep children and staff informed
of how well the school is doing in keeping the school grounds litter-free. The Litter Patrol
also ensure there are enough bins both inside and outside the school and that they are in
the correct places.
The whole school regularly undertakes litter work in their classes as part of the curriculum to
ensure all children fully understand the importance of putting litter in the bin. All classes also
go out into the village each term to pick up litter as part of a community “Spring Clean”. Here
they are ensuring the local environment is also clean, tidy and litter-free. This also forms the
basis for litter work in the curriculum, as litter is mapped, recorded and audited.
Although the Eco Committee at Rigside Primary School lead and oversee the school’s work
on litter, it is the responsibility of all.
Waste Minimisation and Rigside Primary School:
At Rigside Primary School we endeavour to reduce, recycle and reuse waste where we can.
We do this through various recycling initiatives: Palm Recycling Paper Bank, Rag Bag
Textile Bank, Terracycle pen and coffee packaging recycling brigades, Recycool ink
cartridge and mobile phone recycling, composting food waste, South Lanarkshire Council
plastic and cardboard recycling.
Classes and the Eco Committee each have responsibilities for these initiatives, and regularly
encourage children, staff and the wider community to help and be involved in our recycling
campaigns. Some of the above recycling campaigns help us to raise money for the school,
and form the basis for waste work in the curriculum, as waste is recorded, analysed, audited,
etc.
Although the Eco Committee at Rigside Primary School lead and oversee the school’s work
on waste, it is the responsibility of all.
Roles and Responsibilities:
Staff will:
- promote and model the appropriate disposal of litter and waste.
- promote and model waste minimisation.
- remind everyone not to drop litter through the taught curriculum, assemblies and
class meetings.
-
teach children about the importance of the safe and appropriate disposal of litter.
teach children why it is important to reduce, reuse and recycle waste.
ensure that the school’s litter policy is adhered to in school and in the playground.
support children in implementing the school’s litter procedures and actions in the Eco
Action plan.
raise concerns regarding litter and waste to the Eco Committee.
Pupils will:
- dispose of litter appropriately when in school and coming to and from school by
putting litter in the bins in the class, playground and surrounding environment.
- be responsible for keeping our classrooms, school grounds and surrounding
environment clean and tidy.
- encourage others to dispose of litter and waste appropriately.
- reduce, reuse and recycle waste and litter as much as possible.
- take responsibilities for the Eco Action Plan seriously.
- take a lead in their classes Eco responsibilities.
- raise concerns regarding litter and waste to the Eco Committee.
Eco Committee will:
- oversee litter and waste work in the school.
- support classes with Eco responsibilities.
- attend regular committee meetings.
- promote a litter-free environment to other members of the school community.
- monitor any litter problems in the wider community and address any problems.
- report concerns regarding litter and waste at meetings and take action to rectify
them.
- keep the whole school community up-to-date and informed about litter and waste
developments within the school and wider community.
Resources:
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Eco Schools Scotland - http://www.ecoschoolsscotland.org/
Keep Scotland Tidy - http://www.keepscotlandtidy.org/
Rag Bag - http://www.rag-bag.co.uk/
Terracycle - http://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/
Recycool - http://www.recycool.org/
Palm Recycling Paper Bank – 0151 550 4679
Review Date: December 2014