Schools recycling kitchen waste

Release Date:  13-May-2008

Kitchen waste recycling goes back to school

Around 30 Bristol schools are introducing food waste collections, as part of the city's drive to increase recycling rates.

All the cooked and uncooked food waste that schools produce in their kitchens and classrooms is being collected, as well as cardboard.

The pilot scheme, organised by Bristol City Council, is due to run till the end of the summer term and, if it is successful,  collections will be offered to all schools in the city. The Council has helped by providing schools with a variety of bins, as well as printed information to help ensure the scheme is used well and runs smoothly. Representatives of SITA, the Council's waste collections contractor, have visited all the pilot schools to explain the scheme and answer any questions.

Already, 37% of the city's waste is recycled and this scheme is set to further increase that figure.

Councillor Derek Pickup, Executive Member for Children and Young People's Services, said: "Introducing kitchen waste recycling in our schools has a double benefit. Not only are we further increasing the amount of waste produced in our city that is recycled, we are also teaching our children the importance of minimising waste and ensuring it is dealt with responsibly. If children are recycling at school they are much more likely to get into a routine of recycling waste that they will follow at home."

Resource Futures have helped promote the scheme by giving assemblies to those schools involved, to let them know the scheme is happening, as well as how to use it correctly.

Helen Peake, of Resource Futures, said: "Children in Bristol schools are already keen paper recyclers, and many of the schools involved with this pilot are also Eco Schools.  Doing assemblies to such enthusiastic audiences is a pleasure.  Having explained the logistics of the new recycling system, we finish with a 'recycled' song.  It's great to see the children singing with gusto about their new recycling challenge!"

James Smith, SITA's Recycling Manager, said: "The new collections have been enthusiastically embraced by all schools in the pilot scheme, with everyone from kitchen staff and caretakers, to head teachers wanting to be involved.  In many cases it is the pupils themselves who are driving the scheme forward through their own environment groups and they are keen to be able to recycle as much at school as they already do at home."

Author:  Julia Walton

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