Inverness High School takes part in SCOPE litter campaign

The Highland Council’s school litter project came to Inverness High School last week with volunteers and local businesses getting behind the campaign.

Pupils and staff from Inverness High School were joined by volunteers from Tesco, Spar and staff from The Highland Council at litter hotspots to encourage school pupils to use litter bags and bins throughout the week.

Each afternoon the rubbish was analysed, to obtain valuable data about waste generated during school lunch breaks.  Over 5.5 kg of waste was collected in the bins from the pupils over the week long campaign. This included 23 plastic bottles, 15 tin cans and 15 plastic bags.

In return for using the bins provided, pupils were given a token that they then handed 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.  In total, 178 tokens were handed in by the pupils and the school will now receive £540 to spend on eco equipment or initiatives as part of the campaign.

The money raised will be put to good use on the school's Farm Real Food Project which engages pupils in growing vegetables, fruit and flowers for sale as well as composting green waste. The Farm also enables pupils to undertake a wide range of eco friendly outdoor based educational tasks.

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.