At the beginning of a school year, it is useful to evaluate the progress of the Green Schools campaign. The introduction of litter wardens has helped keep the General Purpose Area much cleaner last year. However, this system still highly depends on the work of each individual student in the C.B.S. In this school year, we are aiming to apply for our first Green Flag. This will be a big achievement for the school but all students help and co-operation will be needed throughout the year.

The theme of the first Green Flag is Litter and Waste. Although, any litter problems in St. Mary’s C.B.S. are in the process of being solved, there is still an issue with waste recycling in the school.  Many of the students here, re-use their plastic bottles which is a great advantage. However, some waste is still not being correctly recycled. Recycling in a school, is somewhat different to that of a domestic household. In order to make recycling easier, we have chosen to recycle ONLY the materials below.

• Clean paper
• Cardboard
• Cans
• Plastic bottles.

Since September, we have begun composting in the school. The Green Schools Committee also attended a Stop Food Waste workshop in the Parish Centre, Portlaoise last year. At present, only the Home Economics and the staff room are composting. It is only safe to compost fruit and vegetables from both the lunch area and the Home Economics department and grass cuttings from around the school area. I would like to take this opportunity to praise the students of St. Mary’s C.B.S. and encourage them to continue the recent hard work in the new school year.

Finally, Transition Year students are encouraged to take the lead in running the Green Schools programme. They present presentations on Recycling at the beginning of the school year in order to encourage students to recycle and inform them of the Green Schools Committee. Transition Year students both attend lunchtime meetings weekly and are participating in Green Schools as part of their Gaisce Awards.