Ballyheada N.S. Action Plan for Litter and Waste
2012 – 2013
Goals:
 To educate our school community on Litter and Waste and being part of Green-Schools.
 To keep our school and its environs litter-free

To reduce school’s landfill waste by 20% in February 2013 audit through recycling more of
our waste and setting up a school wormery for composting
Action
Elect a committee
Green-School Committee Meetings to discuss green
school topics
Complete the Litter and Waste surveys from the
Green-Schools Handbook.
Person/ Group
Responsible
Timeframe
Comment /
Outcome
Teachers
November, 2012
Mrs. Horgan
Green-Schools
Committee
Mrs. Horgan / Mr.
Coakley
On-going
2 pupils from each
class group 1st –
6th. Names of
interested pupils put
into a box and 2
names pulled out at
random.
On-going
November, 2012
Completed
1
Green-Schools
Committee
22nd November
Shocked that over
50% of our total
school waste is
food waste!
5th / 6th Class Pupils
Green-Schools
Committee
Pupils / Teachers
22nd November
Educate our pupils about litter and waste through
cross-curricular approaches in classrooms.
Teachers
On-going
75% of the school’s
total waste directly
going to landfill
This highlighted
litter black spots
and areas that
needed cleaning /
tidying up
On-going
Waste management system to be introduced to all
classrooms with a 3 bin system and bins to be
labelled:
General Waste
Paper Recycling (all pages bigger than A5. These
pages are not to be folded or crumpled and will be
collected for shredding)
Wormery (torn paper smaller than A5 size, tissues,
toilet roll inserts, pencil parings, etc.)
Green-Schools
Committee
16th November
On-going
Shane & Aoife
Green-Schools
November
Completed
Evaluate the volume and type of waste consumption
in each classroom, kitchen, halla, resource / learning
support rooms, office.
Categorise waste according to type and weight –
white paper, coloured paper, plastic, food waste,
metal, cardboard, other, etc.
Calculate results of audit and show results on piechart.
Carry out a litter survey of the school environs –
Children in 5th and 6th draw up map of school
grounds. Label maps with A,B,C system and with
codes for types of litter found.
Establish how many extra bins required.
November
2
Committee
Mrs. Horgan
November
Junk mail, leaflets and paper bigger than A5 size to
be shredded, bagged and given to local community
as bedding for horses.
Mrs. Collins
On-going
No visits this year
due to staff
shortages.
On-going
Organise a 3-bin system in Staff Room: ‘Dry
Recyclables’, ‘Wormery’ and ‘General Waste’. Bins
to be clearly labelled. ‘Wormery’ bin to be used once
wormery has been set up.
Staff to take home non-recyclable residual waste,
where possible.
Staff
November
Completed
Staff
On-going
On-going
Mrs. Collins
asap
Nominated Litter
Wardens in each class
(2 new Wardens
appointed each week on
a rotational basis)
Audits to be carried out
until Christmas break
Talk will be given
on Monday, 14th
January, 2013
Talk cancelled
Less waste being
produced for
landfill. More
recycling taking
place. Pupils
becoming more
conscious of
recycling within the
school and more
mindful of what is
Contact Council re. visit by pupils to local landfill site.
Arrange talk on recycling of batteries (2nd – 6th)
Pupil Self Monitoring:
 Pupils to fill in audit sheet of type of waste
being disposed of in each classroom in
‘General Waste’ bins.
 Pupils to also note how full ‘General Waste’
bin is at the end of the day. Sheets to be
collected and analysed.
 Two Litter Wardens appointed by class
teacher every week to check
a) that classroom is kept tidy and litter free
3
b) that bins are being used correctly
All pupils to take home food waste and packaging in
lunch boxes.
Healthy eating policy to be implemented and
monitored.
One treat only, if desired, on Fridays.
Continue rule of no food or drink to be taken out into
the yard at break times.
Staff to be mindful of doing double-sided
photocopying where possible.
Number of photocopies to be monitored.
Scrap paper to be saved in classrooms and used for
working out sums, drawing, cutting activities, etc.
Circulars and Notes to Parents: continue practice of
giving notes, if necessary, to only the eldest child in
each family.
Text-a-Parent, where possible, to save paper.
Use staff notice-boards for informing teachers.
Curriculum Work:
integration of Green-Schools
Programme into the curriculum
Allocate two prominent areas for Green-Schools’
Noticeboards in Junior and Senior corridors so as to
inform and educate on Litter and Waste theme and
to update on Green-School Activities.
Inform parents of aims for the Green-School
programme and encourage recycling at home –
School Website
Contact Local Authority about getting compost bin for
school
going in to each bin.
Almost total
elimination in
amount of food
waste & packaging
in classroom bins.
No difficulties
enforcing this rule
Staff mindful of only
doing double sided
photocopying
All pupils
On-going
Pupils
Teacher monitoring
Staff
On-going
Principal / Secretary
On-going
Text-a-Parent has
reduced a great
deal of paper
waste.
Teachers
On-going
On-going
Mrs. Horgan
Committee Members
December (to set up)
On-going
Completed in
December
Principal
December
Website updated
regularly
Mrs. Horgan
November
Bin was acquired
On-going
4
Mrs. Horgan
17th December
Completed
Mrs. Horgan
Pupils
Mrs. Horgan
December
On-going
December
Completed
Pupils from 1st to 6th
January
Completed
Litter and Waste Poster Competition from Infants to
6th Class.
All pupils
December
Completed.
Display all posters in Halla for classes to view them
and discuss the messages in class.
All pupils
February
Completed
23rd March (Easter egg)
26th January
Completed
Contact environment officer with Country Clean
Recycling (Tony Buckley) to talk to pupils (1st – 6th)
on Recycling
Contact Local Authority re. bird tables and set up in
school garden.
Contact Mary Walsh re. Master Composter (Donal
O’Leary) to show pupils how to set up and maintain
wormery.
Talk given to pupils from 1st – 6th on Recycling by
Tony Buckley from Country Clean Recycling
Prize winner from each class.
Visit to Iniscarra to view the different composting
systems available. Demonstration given by Donal
O’Leary.
Video Clip on the four stages of water treatment at
Iniscarra.
Green-Schools
Committee / Jack P. /
Thomas B.
Mrs. Horgan
Organise rota system for pupils from Junior Infants to
6th to be trained and to take responsibility for
1. bird table
2. collection of litter in the yard and its environs
All pupils from 1st to 6th
to have a turn at each
job
(Each class teacher to
January / February to set
up
Completed
Unable to do litter
pick up on some
days due to bad
weather.
5
(garden / courtyard, pitch, etc.) and collecting
leaves for wormery on alternating days
depending on the need at the time.
Checklist of jobs associated with each of the above
to be drawn up and checked off by pupils.
draw up a class list and
tick off pupils as they
complete duty)
On-going
Arrange for Denis McCarthy, local carpenter, to
construct a wormery for the school.
Arrange visit of Master Composter, Donal O’Leary
from Cork County Council to visit school to show
pupils how to set up and maintain a wormery.
Mr. Coakley
January
4th Class Pupils
Green-Schools
Committee
January
Children write up an account of Donal’s Visit (how
wormery was set up and interesting facts about
worms) and some of their work is included on school
website.
4th Class Pupils
Green-Schools
Committee
27th February
Children from 4th class give talk to other classes on
how the wormery was set up and how it will be
maintained.
4th class talk to different
class bands and each
class views the wormery
Week of 18th March
Register school with An Taisce to be part of the
National Spring Day.
Conduct Waste and Litter Audits to see if school has
reached its goal of reducing waste going to landfill by
25% since November audit.
Calculate results of audit and show results on pie-
Mrs. Horgan
27th February
Green-Schools
Committee
7th March
5th / 6th Class Pupils
March
Heightened
awareness of litter
in our school
grounds.
Children enjoyed
observing birds
feed on bird table.
Completed
27th February
Wormery set up
and located in
school shed.
Completed
Completed. Talk
given to classes
from Junior Infants
to 3rd by 4th class
pupils.
Completed
Completed. Waste
significantly
reduced.
School’s waste
6
chart. Show comparative bar chart with results from
November audit.
Video presentation by Jack, a pupil in 4 th class, to be
shown in all classes re. our school wormery, tiger
worms and composting.
Clip to be put up on school website.
Contact Ballinhassig Tidy Village Committee re.
liaising for ‘Action Day’ and working out a plan of
action and date.
Plan events for ‘Day of Action’ / Lá Glas and liaise
with outside bodies – Donal O’Leary (Cork County
Council)
Notify parents of our ‘Lá Glas’
Carry out our Day of Action / Lá Glas
Green-Schools
Committee
Jack P. (pupil)
April
going to landfill is
reduced by 76%!!
Completed
Mrs. Horgan
February
29th February
Staff
Mrs. Horgan
Week of 8th April
Completed
Mrs. Horgan
Mr. Coakley
Whole School body
Donal O’Leary
10th April
Parents notified
17th and 19th April
Inform Cork City Council of our Day of Action and
arrange for rubbish to be collected.
Mrs. Horgan
10th April
An enjoyable day
for all. Huge
surprise expressed
at the amount of
rubbish collected
from the village!
Completed.
Book bus to take children down to village for Day of
Action clean up
Wormery Competition:
children come up with
designs to paint on outside of wormery. One design
selected from each class. Winning designs will be
sketched and painted on box by past pupil, Dylan
Mr. Coakley / Mrs.
Collins
All Pupils
10th April
Completed
Competition deadline:
22nd March
Completed 10th /
11th June
June
7
Whelan.
Reinforce healthy eating as school policy.
Regular checks on lunches by teachers.
(for painting)
Teachers
On-going
Green-Code Competition: Pupils to come up with a
suitable school motto encompassing our Green
Schools’ Vision.
Pupils from 1st to 6th
Deadline: 22nd March
Whole staff to review entries and to choose our
school motto.
Winning entries to be professionally printed and
displayed in halla.
Teaching Staff
11th April
Mr. Coakley & Mrs.
Horgan
September, 2013
Teaching Staff
10th April
All pupils and staff
Members of Ballinhassig
17th April
Agenda for ‘Day of Action’ to be discussed at Staff
Meeting.
Complete a ‘Day of Action’ – National Spring Clean




Spring Clean event and Litter Pick Up Activity
in the community – each class designated an
area.
Lá Glas – item(s) of green clothing
One healthy green food item to eat in
lunchbox
Cross-Curricular Work – i.e. Science / Art /
Geography / English, relevant web sites,
songs, etc. in individual classrooms.
Unfinished lunches
and food waste to
be brought home
Completed.
‘Sonas agus Snas
l’Oideachas Glas’ =
winning motto
Completed.
Ideas shared and
discussed.
Completed. Had to
have a separate
day for the Litter
Pick Up due to
inclement weather.
(19th April)
8
Conduct Waste and Litter Audits and compare with
March and November Audits.
Record data on comparative bar-graphs
Review the year’s work
Presentation of certificates to outgoing GreenSchools’ Committee at Friday Assembly.
Green-Schools
Committee
th
5 / 6th class pupils
Green-Schools
Committee, pupils and
staff
Mr. Coakley
June
June
Completed 11th /
12th June
Completed
Completed
June
Completed
June
Ballyheada N.S. Action Plan for Litter and Waste
2013 – 2014
Goals:
 To further educate our school community on Litter and Waste through talks, curriculum links
and Our Day of Action.


To reduce the amount of our school waste going to Landfill by 20% on 2012 figures by
continuing to recycle more of our waste and to use our school wormery for food waste, coffee
grounds, tea bags, pencil parings, tissues, scraps of paper, etc.
To reduce the amount of wrappings going home in children’s lunchboxes and to encourage
drink bottles to be reused.
9

To take on a whole school project of improving our courtyards through planting, etc. with the
help and guidance of local gardener, William Grainger, and parent volunteers.
Action
Person/ Group
Responsible
Timeframe
Comment /
Outcome
Participation in ‘Green-Schools’ Summer Course for
teachers in the Life-time Lab.
Mrs. Horgan
Ms. Kelly
Ms. Kirwan
July, 2013
Completed
Review and discussion on ideas, practices for the
new school year in relation to ‘Litter and Waste’.
Establish criteria for choosing new Committee from
pupil body.
Mrs. Horgan
Ms. Kelly
Ms. Kirwan
12th September, 2013
Staff Meeting
Decided that all
interested pupils
give a short speech
to their class on
why they should be
on the committee.
2 pupils from each
class group 1st – 6th.
Teachers choose
from their own
classes.
Committee meets
formally at least
once a month and
informally on a
weekly basis or
Wider School Staff
Elect a new committee. Interested children from 1 st
– 6th give short speech to class on why they should
be chosen.
Teachers
September, 2013
Green-School Committee Meetings to discuss green
school topics
Mrs. Horgan
Green-Schools
Committee
On-going
10
more depending on
work to be done.
Carry out a bin audit in each room to determine if all
classrooms have 3 bins (General Waste / Wormery /
Paper for Shredding) and check if any additional
labelling required for bins.
Aoife & Colm
4th October
Some classes need
new bins and
signage.
Carry out a litter review of the school environs to
determine if there is litter and main areas where litter
is an issue. Label maps with A,B,C system and with
codes for types of litter found. Compare with Litter
Review from previous year.
Amy & Conor
4th October
Enclosed area near
oil tank has
collected some litter
from over the
summer.
Send out check list to teachers to ensure they have
the following in their classrooms:
 Rota for Litter Wardens
 Rota for Bird Table (Ms. Kelly’s Room only)
Staff
8th October
Completed
Educate our pupils about litter and waste through
cross-curricular approaches in classrooms.
Teachers
On-going
On-going
Whole School
October
All pupils
October
Litter and Waste Poster Competition
Display all posters in Halla for classes to view them
and discuss the messages in class.
Posters to be
displayed in halla.
One prize winner
from each class.
Completed
11
Prize winner from each class.
Set up ‘Golden Bin Award’. SNAs responsible for
evaluating each class on a daily basis and giving a
score out of 10. Results to be announced at
Assemblies and a golden star added to chart of
winning class on chart displayed in halla. Each
winning class gets to keep the ‘Golden Bin’ on
display in their room until the following assembly.
Winning class to receive a prize at the end of each
term.
‘Wrappers in lunchboxes’ survey. Children asked
how many wrappers going home in lunchboxes.
Boxes for lunches, no cling film.
Children
encouraged to use compartmentalised lunchboxes.
Survey to be carried out weekly.
Whole School
On-going
Began in October,
2013
Creating
competition and
heightening
awareness among
the children!
Aislinn & Cathal
‘Drinks Bottles’ Survey. Children asked how many
bring same re-usable bottle to school each day.
Survey to be carried out weekly.
Aislinn & Cathal
Encourage fruit and healthy lunches. Cut down on
lunch packaging – encourage use of reusable drink
bottles and use of lunch boxes with containers for
different foods. Discourage use of cling film, drink
cartons, etc.
Our school court yard identified by pupils as an area
needing to be cultivated.
Arrange for William
Grainger, local gardener, to give us ideas to help us
All pupils and teachers
William Grainger
Teachers
20th November = 1st
survey
On-going
Aim: to cut down
on wrappings being
disposed of at
home and to raise
awareness of
packaging waste.
20 November = 1st survey. When first surveyed
On-going
88% of pupils in
school have
recyclable bottles.
Aim: 100%
On-going
Less waste being
taken home for
landfill by pupils
and teachers.
October
Completed.
Awaiting quotation
from William.
12
cultivate our court yards so that courtyard is suitably
divided for each class to cultivate and look after.
Arrange for William to speak to pupils from 4 th – 6th
re school garden.
Set up courtyard for pupils to cultivate and maintain
during the school year.
Purchase a new paper shredder.
Organise rota system for pupils from 1st to 6th to take
responsibility for
 bird table (Ms. Kelly’s Class)
 collection of litter in the yard and its
environs (garden / courtyard, pitch, etc.)
and collecting leaves for wormery on
alternating days depending on the need at
the time.
Rota to be set up and visible in each classroom.
Change and up-date notice boards (new committee,
etc.)
Pupils to measure area of school grounds for GreenSchools Application.
William Grainger
Parent Volunteers
Staff
Pupils
To be on-going once set
up
On-going
Mr. Coakley
November, 2013
Completed
All pupils from 1st to 6th
to have a turn at each
job
(Each class teacher to
draw up a class list and
tick off pupils as they
complete duty)
September to set up
On-going
Green-Schools
Committee
Mrs. Horgan
6th Class pupils
Ongoing
On-going
22nd November
On-going
Completed
13
Arrange for Donal O’Leary to give a talk to pupils in
two sessions (Juniors and Seniors) re Litter and
Waste and for him to check the progress of our
school wormery.
Mrs. Horgan
Contact re. December talk
Evaluate the volume and type of waste consumption
in each classroom, kitchen, halla, resource / learning
support rooms, office.
Categorise waste according to type and weight –
white paper, coloured paper, plastic, food waste,
metal, cardboard, other, etc.
Green-Schools
Committee
19th / 20th November
for collecting and
categorising rubbish
Talks arranged for
Wednesday, 11th
December
No more food waste
being sent to land
fill!!
Significant
reduction in the
amount of general
waste (cf. GS
folder)
Compare with results from November, 2012 and
publish on Green-Schools Noticeboards.
Calculate results of audit and show results on
comparative bar-chart. Compare with results from
November 2012.
Set up ‘You’re an Eco-Star!’ certificates to recognise
efforts of individual children in each room in reducing
litter and waste in their own classrooms. Certificates
to presented at Friday Assembly.
5th / 6th Class Pupils
Green-Schools
Committee
Staff
27th November, 2013
Completed.
January 2014.
Completed
Register school with An Taisce to be part of the
National Spring Day.
Conduct Waste and Litter Audits in March and
compare results with those from March 2012.
Calculate results of waste audit and show results on
bar-chart. Show comparative bar chart with results
Mrs. Horgan
February / March
Green-Schools
Committee
th
5 / 6th Class Pupils
Green-Schools
14
from November audit.
Agenda for ‘Lá Glas’ to be discussed at GreenSchool Meeting and then at Staff Meeting.
Organise a Day of Action – Lá Glas.
Committee
Staff and Pupils
Arrange for a speaker to come to the school to give a
talk for our ‘Lá Glas’, ie. WEEE
Mrs. Horgan
Notify parents of our ‘Lá Glas’
Carry out our Day of Action / Lá Glas
Staff and Pupils
Mrs. Horgan
Mr. Coakley
Whole School body
Inform Cork City Council of our Day of Action and
arrange for rubbish to be collected.
Mrs. Horgan
Book bus to take children down to village for Day of
Action clean up
Mr. Coakley / Mrs.
Collins
Conduct Waste and Litter Audits and compare with
June 2012 Audits.
Record data on comparative bar-graphs
Green-Schools
Committee
th
5 / 6th class pupils
Review the year’s work
Presentation of certificates to outgoing GreenSchools’ Committee at Friday Assembly.
Green-Schools
Committee, pupils and
staff
Mr. Coakley
June
June
15
16