Newark & Sherwood District Council

Reducing waste at school is as easy as A, B, C..

There are lots of ways schools can look at reducing the amount of waste they throw away every day. Waste prevention is a better environmental option and usually cheaper than either recycling or waste disposal.

Here’s some ideas

• Encourage students to bring a waste-free packed lunches and reusable water bottles
• Have refill points available for students to refill their water bottles rather than bringing plastic bottles
• Teachers can make double-sided photocopies where possible and print only when necessary
• Try and keep electronic copies of files instead of printing everything out
• If paper has only been written or printed on one side why not use it as scrap paper for messages, notes and lists. Keep a tray for one-sided paper to reuse
• Encourage staff and students to use recycling bins correctly
• Create extra recycling points for items such crisp packets, bottle tops and ink cartridges
• Create a school garden and learn about composting using food waste from the school kitchen
• Build a plastic bottle greenhouse for the school garden
• Create recycling art from waste for example bottle top mosaics

Support for schools

Our Environmental Services Team can visit local schools to give talks on recycling and we can help schools organise community litter picks.

Our public protection officers enjoy doing school assemblies and running competitions to encourage responsible dog ownership.

Veolia Schools programme

Children aged seven and over can visit the Materials Recovery Facility in Mansfield to see what happens to our recycling and the Schools Waste Action Club Education officer can also arrange visits to carry out a variety of sessions in schools.

• Veolia Schools

‌We provide a waste recycling service to schools in Newark and Sherwood. This is part of our continuing programme to drive up recycling throughout the district and to ensure all schools receive the same level of service.

To join the scheme all you have to do is purchase a bin which is collected fortnightly free of charge.  All that we ask is that you ensure the bin is easily accessible for collection.

To make collection as simple as possible only 1,100 litre bins will be made available and as a guide, schools are limited to 1 bin per 100 pupils.

If you are interested in this service, please contact us.

Eco schools is part of Keep Britain Tidy and aims to empower children and teens to to improve our environment.

Schools can register for free and receive free resources to help get the whole school involved with exciting environmental projects.

Schools are given awards as part of the programme to show their success and eco school programmes are available for both primary and secondary students.

• Find out more and sign up now

The Community Recycle Scheme has been in touch to share how they can support schools with free stock and end of line items including

Polycarbonate sheets
Shade sails
Post pads
Outdoor furniture items

The scheme is easy to use, just view the items on the website and contact the Community Recycling Team to arrange the donation.

• Community Recycle 

Schools gardens can improve both the physical and mental wellbeing of students. Garden projects can help build life skills and encourage a healthier lifestyle.

School gardens provide the opportunity to enrich the entire curriculum from science and geography to art and design and teaches about the environment and sustainability.

RHS campaign for school gardens

The RHS campaign for school gardens is jam packed with ideas, advice and resources for school gardens.

Schools can sign up for gardening awards and competitions and training courses are available for teachers and parent volunteers.

Registration with the scheme is free and every school receives a welcome pack including seeds, plant labels and posters. Plus access to online resources and information sheets for practical activities and lesson plans.

If you need advice for projects and challenges to keep young people busy in the garden or growing veggies at home or school visit the RHS School Gardening website.

• RHS School Gardening

Green Plan It Challenge

The RHS Green Plan It initiative challenges secondary school students to design and create a model of a garden for their school or community. The initiative includes funding opportunities and practical support

• Green Plan It

The Field Studies Council helps people to learn about nature and the environment so they can make informed choices about how best to protect it.

The Field Studies Council is working in partnership on a project called Nature Friendly Schools.

The aims of the project is to

• Develop teachers’ confidence to embrace and deliver outdoor learning
• Help to improve mental health and wellbeing in pupils
• Encourage better engagement with school among pupils
• Create an increased care and concern for the environment

The Nature Friendly Schools website include free resources for all schools

• Nature Friendly Schools

Free trees for schools

The Woodland Trust wants to make sure that everybody in the UK has the chance to plant a tree. They give away hundreds of trees to schools and community groups each year.

The trust has two delivery periods per year for free trees for schools - in March and November.

• Find out more and apply for free trees

The Tree Council orchards for schools project

Plant an orchard in your school and be a #ForceForNature

• Orchards for schools

Forest visits and free resources

Forestry England provide free educational resources for schools including activity sheets, lesson plans and teaching packs. 

• Forestry England Learning

Discover and Learn at Sherwood Pines

Sherwood Pines has a forest event room for hire, café and a variety of trails. It is a wonderful setting for groups to get involved in a range of learning activities that combine hands-on education with ideas for active minds.

Why not book a self-led visit for your class and hire one of the forest's fabulous ‘Ranger in Bag’ resource backpacks to support your day? Or perhaps learn some bushcraft skills with one of their rangers? They have a variety of free downloadable resources available too.

• Contact the Sherwood Pines learning team