the happy bin

Message board

The problems, solutions and good ideas that pupils have for reducing waste in school.

Send your messages for this page to Ian Mitchell.

1. Question: From Jessica and Hannah at Rhayader School:
   In our school we are supporting the 'Happy Bin' project. It encourages us to recycle paper, plastic and tin and to compost things so less rubbish is going into the landfills. Before we go home after school we go around each class and weigh each bins worth of rubbish and then e-mail the results to 'Happy Bin'. We are aiming to reduce even further the rubbish we make. We are lucky because we live in the country but there are still 2 landfill sites not too far away.
   We have produced 46.36 Kg of rubbish this week. Looking at our rubbish it is mostly milk containers. Our milk supplier is contracted with Powys for 3 years and the containers can not be recycled in the UK. The only place in Europe that they can do this recycling is in Norway we believe. We seem to be stuck with some rubbish that we can't do anything with. Any ideas?
   
   Below: This is what Caehopkin School thinks about drink cartons that we can't recycle!
   
   
   
   After two weeks of weighing our rubbish we have found that one of the main items in our bins are milk cartons from the Infants class. They are also the smelliest!!! We have been told by the kitchen staff that they have to come in these cartons as they have to be this size and it would cost 5p more each to put them in plastic containers and the WAG won't pay for this. Can anybody tell us if this is true or not and has anybody actually managed to solve this problem?
   
   From Penrhos School: We too are still having a problem with milk cartons.
   
   Answer: From Ian Mitchell: Will Caehopkin be brave enough to get rid of their milk cartons? Please help them! Caehopkin eco-committee has written: "We have already discussed the idea of large bottles of milk with the kitchen staff. They were willing to try it but then they were told that the milk had to be in 1/3 pt containers so that every child got the amount they were entitled to, no more and no less. Again we don't know if this is true or not. Has anybody else been told the same thing?"
   
   Meanwhile, a couple of possible solutions:
   
   Do you serve school meals at your school? If so you may be able to persuade the dinner staff to help you. Instead of ordering the milk for the infants in Tetrapak cartons (which are difficult to recycle) you could ask that the milk is delivered in big plastic bottles which CAN be recycled. The milk would need to be poured into the plastic beakers used by the children for drinking at lunch time. The beakers could then be washed and sterilised and reused at lunchtime. This solution makes less waste for landfill but of course makes more work for the dinner staff.
   
   Another possibility is to write to Nicola Mann and tell her about your school's problem. She works for the people who make the milk cartons and is trying to set up a recycling scheme in Powys. Her address is:
   Nic Mann
   National Recycling Officer
   Tetra Pak (UK) Ltd
   Bedwell Road
   Cross Lanes
   Wrexham
   LL13 0UT
   01870 442 6012
   077 8891 5586
   nicola.mann@tetrapak.com
   



2. Don't do it Caehopkin

   Claire Davies Powys Recycling Education Officer writes:
   Your catering staff are correct. I have spoken to person who issues contracts and the policy is that each individual receives milk in 1/3 pint portions. The rebates for school milk are voided if 1/3 units aren't used and this is audited by the Intervention Board. Now I've discovered that the small schools that are pouring milk are 'breaking the rules'. Oh dear! As you know, your dairy DJ Lloyd is supplied by Dairycrest who only package thirds into cartons. At the moment PCC procurement are trying to encourage dairies to change suppliers so that can source full fat milk rather than semi-skimmed. If the suppliers change, then maybe plastic bottles will be an option. I will let you know of any changes.
   
   The contracts are very complicated but at least the people involved in procurement and contracting are now aware of the issues about recyclable packaging.
   
   The Cynlais Eco Committee has been proactive. Could you support them?
   
   We at Cynlais have also had a problem trying to re-cycle our milk cartons. Our milk man tells us that he is unable to change his supplier at present but if plastic bottles are used an extra cost would be added!! This seems unfair when we are all trying to re-cycle our waste. We have tried to contact Nicola Mann at Tetra Pack but after 4 phone calls and some e-mails later we had a phone call from Mr Ceri Swift at Tetra Pack. He tells us that he is looking into the possibility of setting up a re-cycling service in the area. Perhaps if all the schools in the project were to ring him we might speed things along. His telephone number is 07710 037023.
   Schools are supporting Cynlais's initiative:
   
   Ysgol Penycae is supporting Ysgol Cynlais Much of our waste is milk cartons so we will contact the supplier as Ysgol Cynlais suggest. Well done to them for their efforts!
   
   Ysgol Cefnllys at Llandrindod Wells wrote: Thanks for the details about the Tetrapak business. We'll be getting on to them about it next term. After a week of blitzing the putting of compost in the compost bin we've discovered that the 'infant milk issue' is probably our biggest problem.
   
   Crossgates school wrote: Our biggest problem is the milk cartons too.
   
   
   Ysgol Penrhos wrote: Pleased to read info regarding Tetra packs. We will be following up on this.
   
   Caehopkin are going straight to the top! We will certainly support Cynlais on the milk carton issue and we also thought we would write to Kirsty Williams our AM as well as Jane Davidson and anybody else in the Assembly that has responsibility for recycling. Straight to the top that's our motto in Caehopkin!
   
   Cynlais has written to their AM:
   Dear Kirsty Williams,
   At Ysgol Cynlais Primary School we have a problem and wonder if you can help us sort it out? We have little milk cartons that we can't re-cycle because of the plastic lining inside them.
   Mr Williams our school's Eco Co-ordinator has attempted to contact several companies to recycle them but to date has been unsuccessful. We find ourselves in a ridiculous position. We would like to change our milk supplies to plastic bottles but have been told that an increased charge would be added. This seems unfair at a time when are all being encouraged to re-cycle and re-use our resources. We have also got fruit juice cartons that also have plastic inside them and we can't re-cycle them either.
   Could you help us please to re-cycle these containers or help us get plastic ones. If you could do this we would be very grateful to you.
   Yours Sincerely,
   Tyla Phillips (Chair Person Ysgol Cynlais Eco Council.)
   
   

3. A brilliant idea to temporarily reduce the milk container waste

   
   From Shauna and Evelyn at Newbridge School:
   We knew that the milk containers would be our biggest problem too. We thought another solution would be some kind of reuse.
   They would need to be washed and then could be used in school for such things as planting seeds, growing and model making.
   
   

4. Telling the world about reducing waste and the Happy Bin:

   
   Calling all schools: Glasu would like to receive pupil written articles for their next newsletter. We would like to have pupil's thoughts and experiences of participating in the Happy Bins project. Articles should be no more than 250 words long and can include a photo. One article will be picked to go in the newsletter and all other articles will be put on the schools Happy Bin web page.
   
   Please send completed articles by Thursday 26th April, including the pupil or class name, age and school to:
   Laura Shewring
   Energy and Waste Project Officer, Glasu
   Email: laura.shewring@powys.gov.uk
   Post: Glasu, Antur Gwy, Park Road, Builth Wells, Powys LD2 3BA. See the the Glasu website for the last edition of the Glasu newsletter.
   
   The Happy Bin Pupil articles competition
   From Laura Shewring, Energy and Waste Project Officer, Glasu
   The Happy Bin Pupil articles competition was a great success, but unfortunately they were not in time to make the Glasu newsletter as we had to move forward the deadline. However we will be doing a display of all the articles which we will take to local events. Please put the names of the winners on the website.
   Winner for Newbridge School - Emma Rogers.
   Winner for Ysgol Cynlais - Lauren Amy Bratton.
   I am hoping to scan some of the posters in so that they can go on the website. However, there are too many to put them all on.
   
   

   Our Article on the Happy Bin Project<
   Written by Lowri Jones and Catrin Norton of Caehopkin school

   
   The Happy Bin Project has changed our school dramatically and surprisingly helped us too!<
   It's changed our school because before the project started, our school was recycling but ten times less than we are now, plus we are now extremely determined to recycle because we now realise how important recycling really is.<
   When it came to weighing our recycling, the ECO committee found that when putting the bags on the scales, you could no longer see the dials and it was difficult to weigh it. <
   We came up with a special way of weighing our recycling: the people who weigh the rubbish decided to hold it in their hands, then they took away their weight so you come up with the weight of the rubbish.<
   Even though it seems like we've got it all worked out, we still have a couple of problems. Our first problem was that when we went to empty the dinner hall bins, all the gloopy and messy things like yogurt was all over the bin bags and your hands got covered in it and it was horrible!!!<
   We solved the problem of the messy bins by getting the children to scrape out the left over yogurt into the food bin, and then put the container into the recycling bin so no more MESSY BINS!!!<
   Our second problem was about the milk cartons and that we couldn't recycle them; we tried to put milk in glasses, but we were told that schools who were doing that were actually breaking that rules, because every child needs a third of a pint of milk a day and can't have them in glasses - so we are stuck!!!<
   Unfortunately we haven't yet solved the problem of the milk cartoons but we are having a lot of support from the Happy Bin website!!<
   We have also written to our A.M (Kirsty Williams) and the Dairy Plant that supplies us with the Tetrapaks.<
   We have really enjoyed our three weeks of the project, and can't wait for the second half.<
   Yours sincerely<
   ECO committee of Caehopkin school



5. What some schools are saying about the Happy Bin Project

   
   "Hi, we are enjoying taking part in the Happy Bin project in school and trying to reduce the amount of waste that we produce in Glanrhyd. We feel that by doing this we are doing our little bit towards helping the environment" - from Kira Yr 5.


6. Cwmdu and Llangynidr Schools:
   Cwmdu have decided not to take part in the Happy Bin waste monitoring exercise. They are very positive about waste minimisation and are planning to halve the size of their refuse bin.
   
   As a small school with many commitments they are addressing the issue of residual waste on an ongoing basis.
   
   Llangynidr is planning to submit their statistics after the Easter Holiday. Staff absences have made current participation difficult.



7. Here is an idea to reduce lunch time waste from a previous Happy Bin School:

   
   At Caersws we have a Waste Free Wednesday - children (and Staff!) have to produce as little waste as possible at lunchtime either in school dinners or packed lunch (e.g. not throwing food away, so ask for less) - they then get a ticket, which goes into a box, the lucky ticket is picked out and they get a treat e.g. extra play. - Ms Kate Ryder and class 3

Can you help answer any of the questions on this page? Send your reply to Ian Mitchell.