Waste management

The Eco Schools award scheme has been established as part of the Banish Rubbish campaign to work with educational programmes to cover:

• litter;
• waste minimisation;
• energy;
• water;
• transport;
• healthy living;
• school grounds;
• global perspective;
• biodiversity.

Advice and information is available once a school has joined the scheme, which can be especially useful for any improvements to the school environment. Groundwork Medway Swale and the European-funded Interreg IIIA Environmental Stewardship project back the scheme.

Eco Schools (www.eco-schools.org.uk) is a great way to begin or further children's understanding of the environment. All the themes are linked to the national curriculum, the scheme works at a pace suitable for each school and they are supported at all stages. A network of fellow Eco Schools is also available through the website, enabling schools to share best practice.

This is a way to bring together the school community and take a sustainable approach to any improvements on the school grounds, as pupils will be involved with projects from the start.

The scheme has been used as an inventive way of studying a variety of subjects in the National Curriculum including English literature, art, geography and science. It also has several links to the Healthy Schools scheme and is co-ordinated locally by Medway Council. Please visit the international website (www.eco-schools.org) for more information and ideas about the scheme and how it works in other countries.

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