The commitment to a big World Oceans Day eco initiative from pupils received praise from Rydal Penrhos teacher Julie Woodthorpe.

The Rydal Penrhos eco committee is organised by teacher Julie Woodthorpe and led by eco leaders and members of the Prefect team. During their final activities of the previous academic year, pupils focused their attention on World Oceans Day to do their bit in keeping the planet healthy.

Mrs Woodthorpe explains more:

To celebrate World Oceans Day, the Eco Committee decided to highlight plastic waste, as so much single-use plastic ends up polluting the oceans around the world, harming creatures that live there and affecting humans too.

Their focus was on the plastic packaging used to wrap sweets which is difficult to recycle. They were interested to learn that Smarties are now packaged in paper bags instead of plastic bags which so many of their favourite sweets are still wrapped in.

Members of the Eco Committee from each year group wrote a persuasive letter to companies who use plastic packaging for sweets, to try and encourage them to reduce the amount of plastic wrapping waste and use a more sustainable and eco-friendly alternative.

Plastic waste is a topic which the Eco Committee are keen to highlight each year. The penguin sculpture which was put at the front of the school for pupils to fill with plastic lids is now full. The vast collection of lids emphasises the amount of single-use plastic created from everyday products, such as milk bottles, juice bottles and cosmetic bottles.

Since the sculpture is now full and pupils are no longer collecting plastic lids, the Eco Committee would still like to involve everyone at home in their Eco activities.

They would like everyone to look at the products they use at home and commit to changing to a sustainable alternative. For example, this could be changing from buying single-use plastic milk bottles to having milk delivered in glass bottles by a milkman.

Another example is to refill bottles and containers at the local Eco shop to avoid buying items in plastic bottles or bags. Or buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packed products.

The Eco Committee would love to hear your pledges of how you are going to change from using single-use plastic and will be asking the pupils in September to share any changes they have made at home.

Great work, eco-warriors. We are proud of you all!

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