Students at the Dixie Grammar School have started a new initiative to reduce still further any school waste which cannot currently be recycled.
Dixie Waste Warriors has been set up by students, teachers and parents of the school with the purpose of collecting all manner of plastic products which cannot currently go into the council’s own recycling system. Dixie has already taken steps to reduce its single-use plastic products and under this latest initiative, even more products can be saved from landfill, such as crisp packets, contact lenses, plastic pens and highlighters.
Sponsored by one of the students’ parents, special bins have been placed around the school, into which all such products can now be placed. The Waste Warriors then have the weekly task of sorting this so it can be sent to the recycling company Terracycle. They, in turn, transform what would have been landfill, into plastic balls, which can be used to produce watering cans, coffee tables or even playground equipment.
Following their whole school assembly to promote their project to the student body, the Dixie Waste Warriors have big plans. They are aiming for the Eco School Award and individual “Green” Blue Peter Badges and also have plans to attend a Market Bosworth Parish Council meeting with the aim of introducing the scheme to the local community.
TerraCycle state that they are Eliminating the Idea of Waste® by recycling the “non-recyclable.” Whether it’s coffee capsules from your home, pens from a school, or plastic gloves from a manufacturing facility, TerraCycle can collect and recycle almost any form of waste. They partner with individual collectors, as well as major consumer product companies, retailers, manufacturers, municipalities, and small businesses across 20 different countries. With the public’s help, they are able to divert millions of pounds of waste from landfills and incinerators each month.
