Nairn Academy takes part in SCOPE litter campaign

The Highland Council’s school litter project came to Nairn last week with volunteers and local businesses getting behind the campaign at Nairn Academy.

Pupils and staff from Nairn Academy were joined by volunteers from the Nairn Sub – Urban Community Council, staff from The Dolphin Fish and Chip Shop, and The Highland Council staff at litter hotspots around the town to encourage school pupils to use litter bags/ bins throughout the week.

In return for using the bins provided, pupils were given a token to hand in to the school to help it reach a target total. Pupils who returned their tokens were also entered into a prize draw to win £10 cash prizes as incentives to reward them for disposing of their litter properly.  In addition the Dolphin Fish and Chip Shop and COOP kindly donated prizes for the pupils.

Each afternoon the rubbish was analysed, to obtain valuable data about waste generated at school lunch breaks.  Over 22 kg of waste was collected in the bins from the pupils over the week long campaign, of which 9 kg was recyclable. This included 131 plastic bottles and 88 drink cans which were recycled.

In total, 875 tokens were handed in by the pupils and the school will now receive £750 to spend on eco equipment or initiatives as part of the campaign. Nairn Sub- Urban Community Council will also receive up to £500 of funding to spend on eco equipment or initiatives for their involvement during the week.

The Scope Litter Campaign which is being funded by Zero Waste Scotland as part of a Scotland wide trial, aims to reduce the amount of lunch time litter around secondary schools and to build links between the community, businesses and schools.