MANAGEMENT
U N D E R S TA N D I N G S C H O O L W A S T E
Rethinking School Waste: A Smarter Approach to Sustainability
Effective resource management isn’t just about budgeting - it’s also about tackling waste. With new legal requirements on the horizon, schools must take proactive steps to reduce, recycle and rethink their approach
W
e all know that our schools are currently having to do a lot more with the funding provided to them. School resource management has never been more important, enabling schools to get the best value from their resources. We know that staffing accounts for most spending within schools, followed by utilities, which leaves the remaining to be spent on resources and services. Some of those resources have a hidden additional cost - their disposal cost, not just in terms of finance but also the impact on the environment. Businesswaste estimate that each school pupil generates between 20 and 45kg of waste every academic year. This means a minimum of 180 million kg of waste could be created by school pupils across the UK annually. CALCULATING WASTE PER PUPIL You can estimate how much waste your school generates just by multiplying the number of pupils by 20kg and 45kg. That will give you a benchmark scale of how much your school could be generating. If you want a visual clue, just look at the bins when the weekly collection has been missed! If you want
26 Spring Term 2025: Issue 2
a financial clue, take a close look at your waste management invoices. Is your school being charged extra for additional lifts or over weight limit bins? You could save your school some money if waste management is put in the spotlight and a strategy developed for managing it better. Are you paying more to dispose of recyclable items in your nonrecyclable bins? Your waste management company should be able to provide you with some valuable data, which you will then be able to use to start identifying where improvements can be made. ARE YOU RECYCLING EVERYTHING YOU CAN? Education in the UK can be resource heavy. In a primary school it can also be sprinkled with glitter, which does make it hard to recycle. Maybe this Christmas your school has alternatives to glitter or stops using it altogether? Unsurprisingly it is more likely to be the primary schools which can generate up to 45kg of waste per pupil per academic year, with secondary schools creating less but still significant amounts. Apparently 70% of school waste is food, paper and card, which we all know can be easily recyclable.