In years to come, will we look back on the BBC’s second series of Blue Planet as one of the most politically transformative TV programmes ever shown on British television?
The damage done to marine wildlife by plastic waste portrayed in its final episode went on to spark a national conversation about the need to reduce plastic waste and prompted government action to tackle the problem.
However, the pupils at Gwinear School in Hayle, Cornwall were ahead of the game. As the school’s administrator, Helen Bodé, explains, even before Blue Planet 2 was shown, the school’s pupil council had called for action so that “As a whole school, we would attempt to become plastic-free.”
The school had previously only recycled paper and card, but this pupil-driven effort to tackle plastic pollution ended up prompting a major rethink regarding the school’s approach to waste disposal. The school continues to use the same private waste contractor as it did before, but now has them take away spent cans and bottles, food waste and whatever remains of its mixed plastics separately. Those extra collections entail additional costs, but according to Bodé, the expenses involved have been largely offset by the school paying less for its general waste collections.
So what does the school’s attempts at a ‘plastic ban’ mean in practice for pupils? Bodé describes how the in-house alternative ‘packed lunch’ option provided by the school’s kitchen now comes served on a plate, rather than in the plastic bag it did before. Pupils are still able to bring their own packed lunches in from home, but are expected to take any plastic materials home with them with two notable exceptions. The first is yoghurt packaging, which can be repurposed as glue pots and other types of containers. The second, however, are the rigid bottles produced by a certain specific brand of soft drink which, as Bodé tells it, “Are awful – we’ve banned those.”
The policy has proved slightly more challenging where Gwinear’s procurement policy is concerned, but far from insurmountable. “The biggest difficulty has been finding alternative suppliers,” says Bodé, “but it’s an ongoing process. It’s quite simple for basic stationary supplies like exercise books, for example, which just arrive in cardboard boxes that can be recycled easily.”
Bodés’s efforts at sourcing supplies from companies that use plastic as little as possible has even crossed over into campaigning territory, and resulted in some interesting feedback: “I’ve written to various companies requesting that their catalogues, brochures, magazines and other publications are sent to us without any plastic packaging. I heard from one company that our letter to them prompted a discussion at their offices, and they’re now looking into distributing their print material with recyclable packaging made from corn starch. The pupils on our council were impressed and pleased that they’d managed to effect a change like that outside the school.”
Thus far, the response to the school’s efforts at reducing plastic waste have been warmly received by pupils and parents alike, with little in the way of pushback. “When you see the TV footage of those plastic mountains, it really brings home to you just how serious the problem is,” Bodé concludes. “After all, it’s our children’s future.”
For more information, visit gwinear.cornwall.sch.uk
