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How much does your school waste?

Before setting up a recycling system it's a good idea to find out what your school is currently throwing away.

A waste audit is a great way to get an understanding of how much of each type of material your school throws away and will provide information to help you and your students to answer the following questions:

Where does your school produce most of its waste?

Establishing where certain types of waste are produced in your school will enable you to position your recycling points effectively.

Remember, it's not just classrooms that produce waste. Include all indoor and outdoor areas of the school (e.g. office, staff room, canteen and playground) to ensure the scheme is most effective.

We did a waste audit and I was really surprised how much our school throws away and how many different materials we could have recycled.

- Thomas, aged 16, student, Ashfield Secondary School

How much waste does your school produce?

It can be hard to visualise just how much waste your school produces, and the sources of the waste can also be surprising. The average secondary school produces 22kg of waste per pupil each academic year. The figure for primary schools is even higher at 45kg per pupil.

What types of waste are produced?

Most of the waste by weight from schools comes from just two categories: paper and card, and food waste.

Knowing roughly how much of each material your school produces will help you to prioritise which materials to recycle and can help to plan what size bins your school will need. The information you gain from the waste audit will help you to work out which recycling collection could be most effective for your school.

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Recycle

  • How much does your school waste?
  • Where can I recycle?
  • Get the whole school involved
  • Set up recycling at your school
    • How much does your school waste?
    • Get the whole school involved
    • How to set up your recycling bins
    • Keep it going
    • Contribution to school achievement
    • Keep it going
    • Activity lesson plans
  • How to set up your recycling bins
  • Why recycle?
  • Keep it going
  • Recycling symbols explained
  • Recycling made easy
  • Recycle and Reward
  • Contribution to school achievement
  • Recycle at work
  • Recycle on the Go
  • Every Can Counts
  • Start recycling at home in 4 easy steps
  • Recycle at school
  • Are you recycling everything you can?
  • Food recycling
  • Recycle Week 2016
  • How compost is made
  • What happens to our recycling?
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