Cost Savings

Reducing the amount of waste created by your school not only benefits the environment, but it can also benefit your school financially.

How could our school save money on waste disposal costs?
In many cases charges for waste collections from schools will vary depending on the number and size of bins that are put out for collection. By reducing the amount of waste produced, your school may be able to cut down on the number and / or size of waste collection bins that are needed.  This could result in a reduction in waste disposal costs.

How could our school save money on stationery costs?
By taking simple steps such as using both sides of paper in notes books, or printing double-sided, you should notice that the amount of paper used by your school is reduced. This means that you can reduce the amount of paper ordered in the first place, helping to save money.

How much of a difference could we make by introducing steps to reduce waste?
Research conducted in the Angus Council area found that schools of a similar size with similar pupil numbers showed big differences in the amount of waste generated. For example, the graph below shows that School 1 with 78 pupils produced half the waste of School 2 with 81 pupils.


Various factors may contribute to the difference in the amount of waste produced by schools of a similar size and with a similar number of pupils; however, the individual school's efforts to reduce waste are likely to have had a significant impact. The results strongly suggest that it is possible for individual schools to make a big difference to the amount of waste produced by taking simple steps to reduce waste.

How could our school reduce waste?
The suggestions below describe some of the most common ways that schools can encourage both staff and pupils to reduce their waste.

Paper

When printing out from a computer make sure that you always print double-sided. Make sure that any photocopying is double-sided. When purchasing new printers or photocopiers, try to make sure that they are able to print quickly and easily on both sides. Encourage pupils to use both sides of loose paper and paper in note books.  Reuse envelopes wherever possible. Small amounts of torn up or shredded paper can be composted. Contact your local authority to see if they can provide your school with a free or discounted compost bin. This is an activity that pupils can get involved in and learn from, as well as reducing the amount of waste your school has to dispose of. For detailed information about how to compost, please refer to our Composting How to Guide. Register with the Fax Preference Service to cut out unwanted faxes that use up your paper. Register with the Mailing Preference Service to reduce the amount of unwanted mail your school recieves. Where possible, use a sibling list to send out one letter per family to save paper and avoid parents receiving multiple copies.

Food Waste
	Some types of food waste including fruit and vegetable peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds and egg shells, can be composted. Contact your local authority to see if they can provide your school with a free or discounted compost bin. This is an activity that pupils can get involved in and learn from, as well as reducing the amount of waste your school has to dispose of. For detailed information about how to compost, please refer to our Composting How to Guide. Monitor the amount of food that is provided for school lunches to ensure that there is not an excess. You may need to contact your school's caterers to alter the amounts they provide.

Avoiding excess packaging and disposable products
Simple steps such as avoiding disposable plastic cups and cutlery can help to reduce waste. Encourage staff and pupils to use reusable lunch boxes and drinks bottles can help to cut down on packaging waste. Excess packaging creates unnecessary waste that can often be difficult to reuse or recycle. Your school could run a waste free lunch initiative to raise awareness of alternatives to over packaged products.

These suggestions are just some of the things that you can do to reduce waste at school.  Once your school has decided on ways in which to reduce waste, pupils and staff can be encouraged to get involved through setting a waste reduction challenge. The aim of the challenge is to set a target for lowering the amount of waste produced in school. 

Eco Schools encourage schools to undertake an environmental review.  This helps you to identify things that could be improved in your school.  Pupils can carry out this review with the help of the Eco Schools Waste Minimisation Checklist.

We would love to hear more about your ideas of how to reduce the amount of waste created by schools, and how to encourage staff and pupils to get involved. Please send us an email with your suggestions.