Abercanaid Community School received funding for two applications in 2008-09. The first application was for a dishwasher, reusable plastic cups and a steam cleaner; the second was for a variety of recycling bins including penguin (talking) recycling bins and blue bins for recycling paper, cans, plastic and food waste.
The school is committed to becoming as Zero Waste as possible. They have already reduced waste to landfill by more than 50% which resulted in a saving of approximately £1,000 per year. In order to move closer to their goal of becoming a Zero Waste school, they have completed an audit - looking to identify areas where they can further improve their resource efficiency and sustainability. To date increased recycling and waste elimination has resulted in approximately 6 tonnes of waste being diverted from landfill, and they have reduced their usage of disposable plastic cups by 100% through the purchase of reusable washable plastic beakers.
“Without the help and guidance from Envirowise Wales, it would never have been possible to achieve this.” Abercanaid School, headteacher.
The recycling bins have been successful, the talking penguin bins especially with the younger children of the school. Additional recycling bins are located at the front of the school and are well used by children and staff, these bins are compact and do not take up a lot of space, they are well labelled and show what can be recycled in the bins.
The school also have reduced paper usage through having a networked multifunction printing device, which is set up to print double sided as standard default. The school are also looking to reduce resources further and have recently installed sensor enabled taps, which stop water flow when the hands are no longer under the running water.
The School are not resting on their laurels and are continuing to look at ways they can reach their objective of becoming a Zero Waste school.
