Dyffryn Ogwen 2018-19

RQ: Can we eliminate single use water bottles from school?

Methods: online research, meeting with experts, letter-writing, physical checks in school

Findings:

• The school uses 65000 water bottles annually
• Bottles come free with lunch – no cups are available, LEA contract with catering company
• Not all bottles get recycled properly
• Not enough water fountains

Outcomes/Impact:

The Sustainability Lab from Bangor University came to explain the background to single use plastic and what was going on in the university with recycling etc. They helped the group from evidence from what they had found – using the numbers to show the waste.   The canteen was lobbied to stop using the single use bottles, as well as the Senior Management of the school to add more water fountains.  They decided to provide each pupil with their own bottle to use in school as well as a trade in system / discount for exchanging worn out bottles