Waste Awareness

CHS has a 100% no-landfill waste contract

This means that any waste that can’t be recycled is used to generate renewable energy to ensure it isn't thrown into a landfill. The “Refuse Derived Fuel” from one term's worth of waste is enough to power all of the Senior School Clevertouch screens for a year - as long as they are turned off at the end of each teaching day.

Waste Awareness Week

The aim in our Green Plan is for a 25% reduction in waste, litter and utility costs by 2025.

We aim to do this by raising awareness of our collective responsibilities to reduce the food waste we produce, turn lights off when not needed, use a refillable water bottles, remove litter, and to recycle as much as we can. Just one minute of everyone’s thought and effort, every day, is the difference that, when combined, changes where we live and work for the better … forever.

Waste Awareness Week aims to raise awareness of the impact waste can have on the environment.

Take a look at our initiatives to develop a culture of reducing the amount of waste produced.

Waste-Watch

With an excellent choice of nutritious and delicious food available in our Dining Hall everyday - we are spoilt with the variety of healthy food choices. Unfortunately, sometimes we take more food than we can eat and it gets left on our plate. This food has taken loads of fresh water, land and labour to produce so wasting it on your plate is bad for the environment. We are supporting Sodexo's pledge to half food waste by 2030!

CHS has "Less Waste Weeks" to raise awareness of how much food gets wasted through the Dining Hall and try support pupils develop a sustainable attitude and habit.

The UK produces the highest amount of food waste in Europe. In 2015 we binned £13.5 billion worth of edible food.

13% of edible food purchased by UK households is wasted. That’s the equivalent of almost three meals a week going uneaten.

Other Waste-Watch initiatives

As a society we keep throwing perfectly good food away - an average of 50% of each batch produced is rejected by exporters for cosmetic reasons so Sodexo are supporting us to change that at CHS by using wonky fruit and veg and repurposing food for future food - todays leftover mash is the topping for tomorrow's Cottage Pie, leftover Bolognaise is used as a base for tomorrow lasagne, and rice today is used for tomorrow's rice salad.

Our planet, your foodWhen you throw something in the bin, it's not just food that is going to waste, it's all the precious resources which went into making it. And each one has an impact on climate change. Perhaps even more shocking, 70% of all food that's thrown away in the UK comes from our homes, which means every single one of us has a vitally important role to play in the battle against climate change.

No Single-Use Plastic Bottles

In 2018-19 the School Council kick-started a focus on reducing the purchase of plastic bottles. Water fountains around School began to be replaced with dispenser taps to make it easier for people to fill up their reusable bottles. The Eco Committee took things one step further in 2022 by initiating a school-wide ban on selling single use plastic bottles.

Reducing Energy Use

Lighting accounts for 20% of all the energy consumption in the UK. LED lights can have a positive impact on our energy consumption and are more sustainable, so CHS replaced most of the inefficient lights with LED ones saving 60 tonnes of carbon/year.

Reducing Single-Use Plastic Straws

The whole CHS community has got behind a "Final Straw" campaign lead by CH-Eco Warrior, Sam, who decided to do something about plastic pollution. "When I entered Year 7, I was doing some homework and saw an article about how marine biologists found a turtle with a plastic straw up its left nostril. This was heart-breaking, and I decided that I wanted to do something about it; this is when I had the idea of trying to create a plastic-straw-free Bramhall." Sam made a huge change to the community and converted the whole of Bramhall to being plastic-straw-free. Through Sodexo, our Catering Team have banned the purchase of non-recyclable straws. “If you want to really do something, just go out there and do it… make a difference.”

ECOSIPPIN - Young Enterprise success selling metal straws

Budding young business minds in the Sixth Form won ‘Best Company’ in the area final of the national Young Enterprise competition for selling reusable straws. Upon brainstorming and researching their ideas, team CHS chose to sell metal straws, reflecting their concern with the increase of throwaway plastics found in the ocean. ECOSIPPIN have since expanded their portfolio of socially-conscious products to include shopping bags and collapsible coffee cups.

"Be Green - Keep it on the Screen"

The manufacture of paper impacts negatively on the environment in a variety of ways, including the production of massive amounts of waste, the use of precious natural resources such as water, trees and non renewable fossil fuels, as well as the release of air pollution into the atmosphere. To raise awareness of this impact, "Think Before Your Print" campaigns and posters will aim to reduce unnecessary printing.

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