Just a drop in the Ocean

When our local village shop stopped supplying free plastic carrier bags to customers , the EGGS Steering Group decided to order some eco-friendly bags from the Good Bag Company. We are very proud of our Buckle's Wood Bags. They are strong, long lasting, made from jute and can be recycled or composted at the end of their useful life! What's more, the wide gusset makes them easy to fill in the shop. Why "just a drop in the ocean"? Partly because plastic debris is forming a floating mass in the Pacific Ocean and damaging the wild life in the sea and surrounding coastal areas. Partly because, saying NO to plastic carrier bags will not save the planet.

Let's hope that the Government is serious about their proposed green revolution. Our World desperately needs URGENT ACTION.

Just for June

Mid Suffolk and Babergh District Councils are organising the Bra Recycling scheme below. I thought it was a good idea, so an appropriate bin will appear at the recycling centre soon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We need your help Ladies!

As part of Recycle Week (June 2nd – 9th), we need your help to “recycle one more thing”, and the Suffolk Waste Partnership are encouraging Bra Recycling!

As well as helping the environment (the bras are sent to West Africa where they are reused and recycled), the project will also raise money for Macmillan.
So, dig out all your unwanted, unflattering, and unfitting bras (and encourage your Mum, Sister, and female friends and colleagues to rummage too!) and bring them in.

Paws for Thought

This is Hairy Maclairy, a local stray, who has been lurking in our garden for the last couple of years. I started to buy cat food again to tempt her in on cold winter nights. She comes in to eat, but prefers to be outside in the wild.

What has this to do with recycling? Well, whilst perusing the many brands and colourfully packaged varieties of cat food, I realised that all landfill sites must be full of POUCHES. Convenient for people, but not good for the planet, as I think that they are made from plastic. Cat food in cans (steel) and trays (aluminium) can be recycled and are a better buy.

What could be a campaign slogan Pass over Pouches? ---ummmm --- not sure about that! Do you have any ideas?

The scourge of plastic

Plastic Carrier Bags

Our local village shop and Post Office has announced that, from the 1st April, customers will be encouraged to re-use their plastic carrier bags. If it is an Elmsett Shop bag, then 1p will be donated to a charity. However customers needing a new bag will be charged 2p. It's a great start to make people more aware of the detrimental effect that plastic debris has on our planet.

Another option is to buy a long lasting, ethically produced bag. The people in the small Devonshire town of Modbury lead the way in tackling the problems of plastic waste.

There are lots of ethical shopping bags at the Ethical Superstore, including string bags.

3 is a magic number

Eco -Schools Celebrations

When we opened our recycling centre in 1994, we were surprised to discover that our recycling topic involved a lot more than just sorting rubbish into piles for recycling and heaps that were destined for our local landfill site. Our recycling topic soon grew into a "caring for our environment" theme and reached into most areas of the curriculum.
Now, our environment and climate change is an urgent, global issue, with gloomy forecasts about our plight on the news almost on a daily basis.
So I was delighted to hear that the staff and pupils at Elmsett have continued to work on green themes, and were rewarded for their efforts by receiving their second Eco-Schools GREEN FLAG at the end of last year. Great news. They have new targets to work on, in order to gain their third flag. If they go on beyond that, the fourth flag is permanent. I don't think many schools have achieved that.

Too little---Too late

So--not much effort was made to reduce our energy consumption on E-Day, maybe because it wasn't given much attention in the media.
Perhaps a glimpse at the article for Monday 3rd March on an American blog might persuade people that some sort of urgent action is needed to protect our children's future.
Click on the link "checklist toward zero carbon", for a comprehensive view on the state of our planet and what everyone can do about it.
But--don't bother if you're depressed!!!!

National Energy Saving Day (E-Day)

From 6pm today until 6pm tomorrow you can save energy in a small way! Click on the image for some tips.

Recycling Credits

We were fortunate that the end of our playground was accessible to the public and could be sectioned off from the area where the children play. It was an ideal site for our recycling centre.

Not many other schools would be able to do this, which is a shame, because the educational, enviromental and monetary benefits have proved to be well worth the effort of setting it up.

I've just been sent details of the recycling credits that we shall receive from Babergh District Council, for each tonne of glass, paper and textiles that is collected from our centre. (£30.86, £35.46 and £145.46 respectively). This usually amounts to about £1,000.00 a year.

At the moment, cartridge recycling is not as profitable as it used to be, however, with support from Takeback Ltd., this scheme still raises a lot of funds for our pupils.

Fitness and Fundraising

The children used to play on the Village Hall car park after lunch, and have their games lessons there too, because the school playground is too small. Now the surface of the car park is so bad that it is dangerous for children to run about on.

Children and (adults?) need to be active, so the school is hoping to provide a fenced, all weather surface area on the meadow, between the school and the village hall. This facility will be available for the whole community to use.

It will cost a lot of money and although there are grants that can be applied for, I expect that the recycling fund will be called upon to help. We raise about £1,000 each year from the material that is brought to our recycling centre on the end of the playground. The cartridge recycling supported by Takeback Ltd has always brought in much more.

So this year, we shall we shall be doubling our efforts to get people and companies to support our recycling efforts. Helping the environment and the health of our community!!!

Aluminium Cans

This is our sturdy can crusher.
The wall mounted one didn't last very long! The lousy summer has meant that it has not been used too much this year. Also the pub that saves their cans for us was closed for some time, while the building was repaired.

So this time as we only had a small load of sorted, crushed cans we took them to Whip Street Motors and received £80 for our recycling fund. In the past, Pearsons would collect large loads of aluminium cans from us.
Our can crusher came from Home Recycling. I understand that it had to be imported from America. That was two years ago. Perhaps they are made in the UK now. If you remember to put a bin liner in the base, the cans can be crushed and bagged in one go.

I haven't tried crushing steel cans yet, but I seem to remember that the information implied that you could if you wanted to. OK if you can get people to wash out their cans first!

News to You

If you want a global perspective about what's happening to our enviroment, then take a look at Planet Ark. This informative, Australian website tackles most green issues and you can sign up to have a daily list of articles from all over the world emailed to you. I Have to say that most of it is fairly gloomy!
Click on the link at the bottom of the page

Recycling to help Others

If you give your old spectacles to Vision Aid Overseas , it's good to know that they will be sent to needy people in developing countries and also give useful employment to the inmates of 6 prisons in this country, who sort, grade and pack them prior to sending them overseas.

For people in the developing world with poor vision, being educated and finding employment is very difficult.
With the correct spectacles, people can learn, work and achieve a quality of life, which was previously unobtainable.

There is lots more information on the Vision Aid Overseas website

Just News

The start of a new educational year is a good time to take stock and plan for the future. The accounts for our recycling centre have been returned, showing a slight downturn in the amount that was raised for school. I'm pleased to report that £6000 was transferred to school funds, to pay for "Computer and School support"

Before I retired from teaching at Elmsett School, we set up an Early Years Unit, paid for by the recycling fund. It was disbanded for a few years but has been resurrected again and the Head Teacher has asked me if the recycling fund can support it as before, something which I am very pleased to do!

Those companies that are interested in Buckle's Wood, our new community woodland, might like to know that Suffolk ACRE, at their recent annual awards ceremony, commended our scheme as an "outstanding Community Achievement".

Been Busy

There is a big gap since my last report. Not an extended summer holiday, but our Woodland Fayre has kept me occupied for the last two months (as well as keeping an eye on the School's recycling centre).

The rain kept away and everything was more or less ready in time! The organisers had a good time and many visitors asked if our event was to be the first of many more! The answer is Yes, but not at the start of the summer holidays!

We were delighted to be chosen as a winner in Powergen's search for energy conscious Summer Fetes and were given £500 to help develop Buckle's Wood, 500 energy saving light bulbs to distribute and 2 energy saving boxes for raffle prizes.

I took the photo above this morning. It shows the second group of trees that we planted in Bucklle's Wood. The trees that we planted on behalf of all the companies that have supported Elmsett School's Recycling Centre, part of our first planing session, are behind me. All the trees are growing well and it is starting to feel like a woodland. Many people who came to the Woodland Fayre, walked round the wood for the first time and were surprised and enchanted by what they saw. A special place.

Green Milk Bottles

Our milk arrives on the doorstep, in glass bottles, which are whisked away when empty and re-used or recycled, depending on their condition.

I think I am right in saying that most milk nowadays is packaged in plastic bottles and sold from supermarkets and shops. The plastic is made from crude oil and can be recycled, but takes about 500 years to rot if it ends up in a landfill site.

Now there is an alternative option to the plastic bottle. Based in Framlingham, Martin Meyerscough at Greenbottle Ltd, has designed a milk bottle, made from moulded recycled cardboard, with a biodegradable insert. The whole lot can be recycled when empty.

It's causing a bit of a stir. Brilliant!

Keep in Touch

I try to keep in touch with the companies that support the school's recycling scheme, and am in the process of sending a newsletter to them, so it was good to receive a response from a local company that has supported our cartridge recycling for a very long time!
"Could you mention us and add a link on your website please" was the request from Access Accounting. My daughter, who designed the site, will have to do this, as I can't alter the website. However, I can manage this Blog and I will be very happy to add your company to the list of Supportive Companies in the links section. You just have to ask!!!!.

Cartridges from Companies

I have been recycling empty cartridges and collecting them from local companies for many years. Some businesses have been supporting school since 1993, when this type of fundraising was a novelty. Now most charities ask for cartridges and mobile 'phones, in fact the market is very competitive!

Each year our recycling fund is audited, so, before the paperwork is dispatched to the accountant, I've worked out that last year, local companies have donated nearly £1,000's worth of cartridges to Elmsett School.

So thank you everyone. We have been able to buy a lot of "extra" resources for our pupils.

Buckle's Wood

Money raised by our recycling scheme has funded many school projects, the latest of which is perhaps the most long term and interesting one. A field at the back of the meadow has been given to the village by a local land owner, James Buckle, in order to develop it as a Community Woodland. The newly planted trees and shrubs will eventually become Buckle's Wood.

The school is closely linked with the scheme; the children have their own planting area and a Governor is part of the management group that is overseeing its development. The recycling fund paid for most of the first lot of trees that were planted.

The photo was taken by Bob Dewes, a Sea King pilot from Wattisham Airfield and parent of a pupil at Elmsett School. Buckle's Wood is the field which is surrounded by a hedge, at the back of the school,
The Green Light Trust has encouraged us throughout and there's more information on Buckle's Wood Blog