La Houguette has plastic waste under wraps
LA HOUGUETTE School’s Eco Club has challenged students and teachers to cut single-use plastics from their lunch boxes on Fridays.
Aimee Isabelle, head of the club and Year 5 teacher, said the whole school was on board with the Nude Food Friday initiative, which was created by the Eco Club after a talk from The Guernsey Weigh sparked interest in cutting down plastic waste.
‘We invited The Guernsey Weigh to speak to the club about how their products do not use single-use plastics.
‘It inspired the club to find ways we can reduce single-use plastics in school and we challenged the pupils to go plastic-free every Friday lunch.
‘They’ve started talking about it and sharing ideas. The club has got the other children to talk about it too, which is great.’
The Eco Club has tackled more than just single-use plastics, Miss Isabelle said.
‘We did a beach clean in the autumn and we’ve recycled crisp packets that are sent to Walkers to be processed.’
As the students ate their lunches, the Eco Club members went from classroom to classroom to count how many students had participated.
Phoebe Davis, 10, had selected a lunch box that helped replace packaging.
‘I’ve got some compartments for food that are really good for less plastic.’
Her lunch was a great example of how to eat in a healthy and environmentally friendly fashion.
‘I’ve got veg sticks, a Babybel, crackers, hummus and flapjacks.’
Daisy Grindal, also 10, who had made her own popcorn to reduce packaging, was concerned about the impact plastic was having on the environment around her school.
‘The sea is already really polluted.
‘We’ve done a beach clean and could see there was already too much plastic in the ocean.’
After the roaring success of the Guernsey Weigh visit, Miss Isabelle hoped future visitors would prove as inspirational.
‘We have a visitor from the soil farm coming in to talk about soil health and show the children some worms.’
Head teacher Claire Judd said the children took pride in their local area.
‘We’re very keen about our environment here out west.
‘We’ve visited the beach and our beautiful nature reserve and the children are very keen to find out how they can help.’
