Glenview primary pupils take part in Enviro School Project

Hamilton’s Glenview primary school has dumped rubbish bins, with pupils taking their rubbish home for recycling.

Caretaker John Hazlitt said the initiative already saves him half an hour per day.

“The rubbish has halved. I think in three to four years, with the new entrants growing up with this idea, the rubbish I’ll have to pick up will be almost zilch.”

The move is part of the Enviro School project, which has been running at Glenview school for two years. Six young pupils are helping to make Glenview Primary School cleaner by encouraging environmentally friendly habits among their classmates.

The next step is two gardens on school grounds designed by ten-year old students as the school’s enviro agents.

Enviro agent Gemma Clunie said they have prepared letters to local businesses to request help with funding for the gardens.

“We are beautifying our school because we are an enviro school. We are going to send letters to ask for help with cheap timbre.”

The enviro agents serve as role models for other students. They speak at class assemblies and teach other students about recycling.

Enviro agent James Whaanga told the school off at their last assembly (“This is not how we do things Glenview!”) but mostly has seen positive progress.

“We tell them to put their used paper in paper recycling bins, which are taken to one class room and recycled from there. My class is recycling yoghurt containers to use to hold paint.”

The Enviro School Project is now undertaken by 155 schools in the Waikato, which represents 41 per cent of schools in the region. Nationwide there are nearly 800 schools involved in the project.