Harrow Way’s Eco Club has launched new initiatives to fight waste, plastic and litter to becoming eco-friendlier.
Donna Robertson, the teacher leading the Eco Club said: “With 934 students and more than 120 staff, the community at Andover’ Harrow Way school can produce a lot of waste. The Eco Club has a two-prong approach.”
“Firstly, we are trying to educate our community about how they can make changes to reduce impact on the environment, and secondly, where there is waste, the club has introduced initiatives to ensure it is managed in an environmentally friendly way.”
Harrow Way has partnered with organisations including SSI SCHAEFER, a world leader in waste engineering. The locally based company donated 12, 140- litre wheeled bins, 6 x 15 litre and 6 x 30 litre carry caddies to the school.
Experts from Test Valley Borough Council have been mentoring the Eco Club and donated a special bin so students and staff can continue their good work recycling crisp packets, and a number of Harrow Way students have been working with Andover Trees United on their many projects.
A powerful initiative is to build a wall of plastic bottles around the half-mile school field to demonstrate the volume of what is normally discarded and will also prevent rubbish from entering the School site to keep the wildlife safer.
Year 7s will not be contributing to the wall contents though as Harrow Way has introduced reusable water bottles for all the new starters to reduce their single-use plastic.
Mrs Robertson added: “Year 7s won’t miss out on helping us become a more environmentally aware and friendly school as we have also introduced litter picking duties and we also ensure all paper used in the classrooms is properly recycled.”
Plastic cutlery in the school canteen is replaced by wooden, and all organic waste from the catering department and the staff room will be composted in the school’s new composter.