Plastic Free Schools
Education for Sustainabilty was responsible for guiding the first school in Ireland to become plastic-free. We have created a tried and tested, step-by-step method for your school to achieve this too.
The workshops encourage students to take initiative, to educate their peers and to campaign to be plastic-free!
Enroll for one or both of our workshops and receive our comprehensive Plastic-free Schools Toolkit.
We offer 2 dynamic workshops that examine the causes and effects of single-use plastic and guide your students to becoming part of the solution to the problem.
Workshop One:
An Introduction
Introduction to the causes, effects and solutions to plastic pollution
Workshop Two:
Leadership
Students will be taught to run a plastic free workshop that they will then in turn teach to the other students in school so you school can turn into a plastic free school step by step.
Enroll today!
The workshops encourage students to take initiative, to educate their peers and to campaign to be plastic-free!
Enroll for one or both of our workshops and receive our comprehensive Plastic-free Schools Toolkit.
Case-study:
Ireland’s first Plastic Free School
Newpark is home to Ireland’s first single use plastic free school. This was a student led campaign that was an initiative from the Education for Sustainability 8-week transition year module.
The module offered the students a platform to take action on an environmental topic that was important to them. 14 students worked together to rid their school of single use plastic by designing a strategic campaign that worked with school stakeholders and that targeted every level of the school community and the outside businesses The students focus for the campaign was plastic bottles and packaging in the school canteen. They mapped out their campaign by identifying tasks and dividing them up in relation to each students’ strengths and skills. To assess the problem with plastic in school the students did a bin audit to measure the problem and as a baseline measure for improvement. A survey team surveyed parents’ staff and students.

A petitions team collected 800 signatures to support a plastic-free school. They also sent the petitions to the relevant Governmental Ministers.
The presentations team pitched to the teachers, Parent Teachers Association and to the Board of Management.The canteen team researched solutions to packaging for the canteen area and liaised with the canteen manager during the transition. The students also had a social media team for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and an artwork team that designed posters for the campaign. The students campaign was a momentous success which created a chain reaction from schools across Ireland transitioning to single use plastic free schools. Newparks step by step campaign model has been replicated in 44 schools to date.
Need support to transition your school to a single use plastic free campus?
