Litter & Waste is the first theme that schools undertake in the Green Schools programme.

All of our pupils are encouraged to play an active part in the care of our environment. The school is actively involved in recycling campaigns including the annual An Taisce National Spring Clean event and the Batteries for Barretstown campaign.

The effort of our Green Committee involving parents, teachers and pupils was recognised when our school achieved our 1st Green Flag in June 2010 at an award ceremony in Croke Park. We now recycle and reuse a large percentage of our waste on an annual basis.

Ms. Lennon’s class also devised a catchy song which all the children learned. It is called Our Green Code Song.

We also have a Green Committee song which Fergal Mc Cahey wrote in 6th class Green Committee Song.

In an Irish context litter and waste are substantial environmental issues. Each year Local Authorities spend ten’s of millions of euros cleaning up the environment due to our individual and collective behaviour and lack of responsibility towards litter.

Scoil Phάdraig Green Code

Reduce Consumption

Eliminate Litter

Care for your surroundings

Your rubbish is reusable

Conserve waste, water and energy

Lets all work together to improve our school

Environmental care is everyone’s responsibility

Examples of how the Green Schools initiative has changed our habits

Paper
Circulars & Notes to Parents We only give notes to the eldest child in each family. We try to put as many messages on each sheet of paper as possible. We phone, e-mail parents with messages where possible. We set up a texting service to inform parents. We use notice boards to circulate staff information.
Worksheets We use back to back photocopying whenever possible.
Scrap Paper These are kept in each classroom and used for working out sums, drawing, cutting activities, etc.
Phone Directories We use old phone directories in other curriculum areas such as alphabetical order activities and exploring businesses, professions and jobs in Ireland.
Books & Copies We buy our schoolbooks and copies in bulk to cut down on plastic packaging and waste. Books are also bought and rented to pupils to cut down on money costs for parents.
Yoghurt & Egg Cartons Children’s individual cartons are washed daily and recycled or reused in different curriculum areas. We have often grow seeds in these containers.
Plastic
Plastic Bags All pupils bring their lunch in a lunch box. Sandwich bags, tinfoil etc are not encouraged.
Tubs, jugs& jars We reuse empty margarine tubs, ice-cream tubs, sweets jars and biscuit tins for storage.
Wrappers We have reused sweet wrappers, crisp packets and used wrapping paper for art & craft activities.
Packaging Many items are bought in bulk to minimise packaging waste (stationery, toiletries, cleaning products, copies, printing paper.
Other Recyclable Items
Glass Jars We reuse glass jars for art/water containers and for storage to hold stationery. We also used them to make snow globes for Christmas ornaments.Any unused jars are brought to a glass recycling bank
Cans & Bottles We encourage families to recycle empty aerosol cans, aluminum cans, beverage and food cans, and tin cans where possible.
Compost A compost bin is used to collect all banana skins, apple cores, orange peels, tea bags, pencil shavings etc. This compost will be used to grow plants in Spring/Summer.
Staffroom Lunches We collect leftover bread from the staffroom to feed the birds on our newly erected bird table.
Batteries We have a battery recycling box where batteries from homes as well as school are collected. We donate them to the Barretstown Children’s charity
Food Scraps Children try to eat all their lunch but any food that is unused is brought home by the children and they are encouraged to eat it later or feed the birds.
Mobile Phones We collect old and used mobile phones for recycling. These are then donated to The Jack and Jill Foundation-Childrens’ Charity or Autism Ireland.
Ink Cartridges Each term we have a collection of these items and send them to a local providers for recycling. We also only buy refilled and reusable cartridges for school printers
Art & Crafts We collect waste items such as cereal boxes, toilet roll tubes, newspapers, Christmas Cards, Argos Catalogues etc. These are used on Art & Craft activities to make wonderful creations and constructions such as robots, buildings, Seasonal Decorations etc.