St Edmund Arrowsmith - eco school

I was delighted to have been invited to St Edmund Arrowsmiths school to attend the launch of their campaign against litter

The school is leading the way towards a tidier borough and is the first secondary school in the borough to tackle their litter problem with an innovative eco-promise made by all pupils and staff.

Two players from Wigan Warriors supported the school’s anti-litter pledge and presented the eco team with a signed rugby ball as a reward for their commitment to the local environment.

The council’s deputy leader and environment champion Cllr David Molyneux, as well as the cabinet champion for young people, Cllr Susan Loudon, were also there to see the work done in school for themselves.

Cllr Molyneux says:

“It costs Britons £450 million a year to clean up litter and about £1million here in Wigan Borough. Add in the effect of visitors seeing our streets looking messy and maybe taking their custom elsewhere, and the cost to the local economy mounts up. I am delighted to support the efforts of St Edmund Arrowsmith in tackling this problem.”

Edmund Arrowsmith currently have a silver Eco-Schools’ award and are now applying for their Eco-Schools green flag award. They are on course to be the first secondary school in Wigan to achieve green flag status. Eco-Schools is an international awards programme and schools can work towards receiving a bronze, silver or green flag award run by Encams (Tidy Britain).

Already the school has invested in energy efficiency technology to monitor gas, electricity and water use, it uses eco-friendly cleaning products and has adopted a ‘switch off when not in use’ policy. Their future plans include developing the woodland areas around the school and pledging to recycle more.

On Thursday 5 and Friday 6 March, no litter was collected from around the school. This shock tactic aims to demonstrate how messy the area can become and encourage everyone to bin their rubbish properly.

The council’s environmental education team have been in school, working closely to assist in developing pupil’s social responsibility for their communities, The team are also helping the school toward its next green flag award.