Prizes on offer to Thurso pupils in reuse and recycling campaign
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Pupils at Thurso High School are being encouraged to step up their efforts on reuse and recycling.
Thurso Community Development Trust (TCDT) has teamed up with Thurso High to run a pilot project offering merits and prizes for reducing waste from single-use packaging.
Staff say they hate seeing the amount of waste generated every day at the school.
The project will support the school to provide food containers for hospitality classes in line with the Cost of the School Day Programme, an initiative that seeks to mitigate the impact of financial inequality.
Over the academic year 2022/23, only four per cent of pupils remembered to bring their reusable container to hospitality classes every time, which resulted in over a thousand single-use containers being given away by the school. Most are then discarded in general waste.
Other examples of waste causing concern are disposable water bottles and food packaging.
Head teacher Hannah Flavell said: “We hate to see the amount of waste generated on a daily basis in Thurso High and we are glad to work with Thurso Community Development Trust to help promote reuse among students.”
TCDT development manager Danielle Moodie said: “Sustainability is at the heart of TCDT’s community-led strategic plan and we advocate the ethos of lots of people making small, manageable changes to make a big impact.
"This is part of our wider work to contribute to Thurso’s net-zero ambitions through our participation in the Highland Community Waste Partnership.”
The campaign includes raising awareness, promoting good recycling habits, competitions between the school houses and improved systems for reminders and notifications. The most active participants will be competing for prizes.
Project officer Oksana Iatsiuta said: “My first experience collaborating with Thurso High was in May when we delivered zero-waste cooking workshops to the pupils.
"I was amazed with the passion and willingness of the staff, teachers, janitors and pupils to find a solution to the problem of everyday waste. It is them who inspired the motto of the campaign: In the world of pollution – be a solution.”
The social media campaign for the project is in the hands of the pupils themselves. The newly formed sustainability committee will take the lead on the campaign, encouraging everyone to get creative and #beasolution.
Ewan Donald, who chairs the sustainability committee, said: “Our ambition is to make the hashtag #beasolution viral on a regional or even national scale. We need everyone to get behind the campaign and show how Thurso’s young people can lead the way in fighting waste.”
The #beasolution campaign will run on all social media channels in the hope of generating as much attention as possible.
