The majority of recyclable material at schools is paper. Every classroom, eating space and office should have plenty of bins available for recycling. Keep a scrap paper tray in each classroom and make sure both sides of the paper are used. Switch to recycled paper. Although recycled paper is still slightly more expensive, if you can reduce your paper use then it may not cost any extra. Route school memos electronically and do not print them out. Use air hand driers or sign up for a reusable hand cloth service. Use old magazines for art projects.

Instead of throwing away plastic cups, encourage students to bring a plastic bottle to school which can be refilled again and again.

Replace plastic wrapping with a reusable lunch box bag hard plastic or stainless-steel food containers. Switch from disposable paper napkins to reusable cloth napkins. Skip disposable plastic cutlery and pack reusable spoons or forks. Save money by avoiding individually wrapped or packaged items like yogurt, cheese, cookies or crackers. Buy larger sizes and pack portions in reusable containers.

Begin a composting program in your school canteens and classrooms to reduce the amount of food waste thrown away. Your school can produce free quality compost from fruit waste, tea bags etc. Alternatively use food waste bin. Check with our office if food waste bin is available in your area.

Encourage parents to bring in old uniforms rather than throwing them away so they can be given to parents in need.

If there are any school supplies left over at year’s end, you can donate them to students in need or to a local organization that helps the needy.

Every canteen and classroom should have containers for recycling, food waste and waste. Involve children in decorating them. Make it fun learning activity.

Switch to rechargeable batteries. For every 10 charges, you have saved buying and throwing away 9 batteries. Replace batteries in remote controls etc with rechargeable.

It is difficult to make measured improvements without knowing how much waste the school produces. A waste audit will show you areas where improvements can be made. Contact Mulleadys and ask for waste reports on every waste stream you produce.

Students can help to raise awareness and monitor waste and recycling throughout the school. Eco Team can also help to monitor litter and waste free lunch activities.

Set goals for your school such as reducing paper use by 10% or reducing the amount of hand towels purchased by 20%.

Water is essential to everybody’s lives and should be used sparingly and never wasted. There are many ways for schools and their pupils to be proactive in discovering more about water, how it is used in schools and how to protect and conserve this important resource. Washing little hands is important! Singing the alphabet or a nursery rhyme is a good indicator for children to know how long they should spend lathering up. It is however important to highlight the importance of water conservation. Teach children to reduce water wastage by turning off the tap when they are finished with it.

Use time controls for your school's heating and air conditioning. For example, start the central heating 30 minutes before the children arrive at work and stop it 30 minutes after they leave. Check that full lighting is not being used unnecessarily outside normal school hours. For example, cleaner’s may need only partial lighting when working. Light switches could be colour coded for different activities. Break up large areas of lights that are on a single switch into separately controlled areas, particularly areas near windows and partitioned off rooms. This enables lights to be switched off when they're not needed, put light switches where people can find and operate them. Form a student ‘energy patrol’ to ensure lights are out when rooms are empty. Set targets and remember friendly rivalry can achieve great things, have students make signs and stickers to remind people to turn off the lights when they leave a room. when you go home, log out and turn off your computer and monitor and accessories at the power switch. Switch off photocopiers and printers at night. Purchase electrical equipment with a high energy saving value.