Pupils at Priory School, Lewes, have taken their first steps to make their schools more environmentally friendly. Priory Eco Group (PEG) have pledged to cut down their litter and count the amount of electric and water they use at the school. They were guided by a representative from Green up your act Education, a Sussex based organization which advises schools on how to make energy improvements.

Pupils were shown how to make wallets from Tetra-packs and a bike linked to a small generator was used to demonstrate how much energy is needed to power a light bulb. They drew up plans for future energy-saving projects and were awarded a bronze award for their effects.

Subjects covered

Waste

Healthy Living.

Energy.

Water.

Silver Eco-School Award

Green up your act has helped  gain a Silver Eco Schools award  for St Mary Magdalene’s school by building a Bug Hotel. 

Bug Barn and Raised Bed Workshop

Subjects covered

Biodiversity

School Grounds

Food

Minibeasts

Reducing our waste is one of the best ways to have a positive impact on our world. It’s important to both our natural environment and us. Our landfill sites are filling up, by 2015, almost all landfills in the UK will be full and incineration should not be the answer.

Increasing population means that there are more people on the planet to create waste. Discarded packaging contains materials that are not biodegradable. Harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses are released from rubbish in landfill sites. Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste and helps protect our resources for future generations.

Making use of redundant materials is a clear statement about closing the loop of resources, but it is a challenge to create new and meaningful uses for objects we regard as rubbish. The Tetra-Pack to wallet design is a transformation creates new and exciting uses for material otherwise regarded as waste. In this case the cardboard, aluminium and plastic which are hard to recycle creates a new object which cleverly borrows from the properties of the discarded carton. i.e: durable and hard wearing.

All materials supplied.

Anna Frendo Ukfeild Technology Eco Week

Teacher of Geography – Sustainability Co-ordinator

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