Thank you to all the girls and their parents for helping us to continue reducing the number of plastic bottles in our school. This initiative is part of our programme to help us achieve our next Green Flag. We survey every class on one day each week to see how many plastic bottles are being used in our school. More and more classes are returning a result of zero plastic bottles on the survey days. We are learning why it is important to reduce our use of plastic bottles: the manufacturing and supply of plastic bottles uses a lot of precious resources and energy; plastic has a long life and plastic is a major pollutant of our planet particularly of our seas. Molly Kelly in Ms. Campbell’s class brought us in a very interesting magazine article about sea plastic which stated that by the year 2050 there may be more plastic in the sea than fish. Ms. Ní Chuireáin’s girls informed us how Ms. Ní Chuireáin saw a bird tangled in plastic on a beach in Donegal. At one of our recent meetings Ella Carey in Ms. Coleman’s fifth class told us that the government is considering a tax on disposable cups, nicknamed the “latte levy”. Ms. Pounch is one step ahead. She told us that some of our local coffee shops will happily fill customers’ own reusable mugs. Thank you Ms. Pounch for that tip! This cuts down on the use of the shops’ own containers which are frequently lined with plastic. Therefore they can’t be recycled in normal depots. In fact it is estimated that only 1% of disposable cups are recycled. Also we learned that it is a good idea to bring old plastic bags to the supermarket for loose fruit and vegetables instead of using the bags in the supermarkets. These plastic bags are not accepted for recycling by all of the waste companies and end up in landfill sites. So it best to reuse them. Next we will be learning all about recycling and the meaning of the symbols on our plastic containers. Finally, our first classes went to the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun. They learned all about the difference between waste and litter. They also saw super examples of everyday objects made by recycling plastic. Amy McCarthy from Ms. Walsh’s class and Lauren Ferris from Ms. Joyce’s class delivered a wonderful report to the school over the intercom. Thank you Lauren and Amy.
Happy Christmas from The Green School Committee.
