Aims
The overall aim of the Blackrock College Green-Schools Committee is to achieve a Green Flag for the school. The Green Flag is an award given to a school that is trying to recycle as much as possible to help the environment. In order to achieve this flag the green campaign has concentrated on a specific set of activities.
First Activity is to raise awareness about recycling and explain to the students how easy it is to recycle and what a difference it makes to the environment. We are doing this through making presentations to the various year groups in the school and through litter and recycling awareness days that we run at regular intervals throughout the school year.
Second Activity is carried out by a Transition Year class (4.2 Economics) and their teacher Mr. Cathal Copeland. They collect over 1000 litres of recyclable material from over 40 locations in the school each week and recycle it. They also monitor the volume of material that is recycled and produce statistics based on this information they collect. According to the statistics they produced recently, from the start of January 2007 to the 14th of February 9,800litres of recyclable material has been collected.
Third Activity is to engage with 3.8 CSPE class and their teacher Mr. James Fitzsimons. The students in that class have agreed to carry out their Junior Certificate CSPE on various aspects of recycling awareness in Third Year.
Fourth Activity of our campaign is requesting that the management of the school provide a larger amount and better recycling facilities. Data from the Company that deals with College waste and recyclables suggests that it makes good financial sense to promote recycling. If recycling is made more convenient we believe that it would encourage people to recycle. Currently we are trying to get the management to invest in bright yellow recycling bins. These are relatively expensive but in the long run we believe it will save the school money as it is much cheaper to recycle material than it is to dispose of general waste. These bins will stand out and if they are plentiful it will encourage people to recycle and will also help reduce the amount of litter in the school.