Great potential for recycling school waste
New research published by WRAP indicates that up to 78% of day-to-day waste - mainly food, paper and card - produced by schools in England could be easily recycled or composted.
England's 20,871 primary and secondary schools produce around 250,000 tonnes of waste each year -enough to fill Wembley Stadium.
Recycling or composting this waste would give local authorities an environmentally-friendly alternative to landfill and could save them around 6.4 million pounds in Landfill Tax. It could also potentially save an estimated 176,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.
The research was commissioned to help improve understanding about the types and quantities of waste from schools and to give local authorities and other recycling service providers indicative data to aid their service planning.
WRAP offers training and advice for local authorities, as well as resources for schools, to help improve the recycling of waste from schools. Click here to find out more.
The full report can be found at www.wrap.org.uk/schoolwaste.