A bit of mashing helps keep the waste levels down

The school’s first green flag was awarded for work on reducing litter and waste.

By composting and recycling, it has reduced the volume of waste going to landfill by about two-thirds to from almost 50kg a week to just over 15kg.

Every class has a recycling bin, a small compost bin, and a little rubbish bin. The boys deposit all fruit waste and other compostable material into the small white bucket, and their contents are placed into several larger blue bins around the hall after school each day.

Each Friday, selected pupils collect the larger bins and the waste is reduced by means of some manual labour to mash it down to a suitable consistency for the big compost bins at the back of the school.

James Collins and Sam O’Brien, both in fifth class, have the job every week of mashing the contents.

Another fifth class pupil, Craig O’Callaghan, says involvement in Green Schools has taught him and his classmates a lot about the need to recycle waste, not just at school but also at home.

“My family recycle more now because I told them they should,” he said, proudly.

Sean Kennedy, a fourth class member of the Green Schools Committee, explained about his work last year as part of the litter patrol.

“Every week in third class, a different person was picked. We picked up the litter and put it in a bin in the yard,” he said.

Of course, said Mr Murphy, not all the rubbish is generated by the pupils and some litter can get blown into the school grounds from the busy Blarney St outside the school railings.

“I like rubbing it in people’s faces sometimes that we’re the first school in Cork City to have four Green Flags,” said Sean.

For fourth class pupil Craig Sweeney, having a clean environment is very important, as he said a visit to another city showed him what can happen if it is not looked after.

“All down the street, the people had all litter everywhere,” said Craig. “If you took in a breath, the smell was so bad too. If we don’t do our work here, then the environment will be like that.”