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.