Flourish pledge case studies
Waste Reduction and Recycling Service (Norfolk County Council)
What they pledged
The service made two pledges:
- Support young people to help the environment and use less single use products. Provide an education pack and awards schemes for primary and high schools. Run events and activities to help suggest simple swaps that can be made at home and out and about. In so doing, support young people to live in healthy environments, understand the impact of choices on healthy lifestyles and promote healthy behaviour.
- Work with the Norfolk Youth Parliament to support them in achieving their goals to increase the number of water refill locations across the county.
About the pledge
Following these pledges, the service started a 'reduce single-use' awards scheme for primary and secondary schools. This helps schools to reduce the amount of single-use plastics they use. They provided education packs, and other resources for schools to download. Since the official launch in September 2021, the service have had over 80 schools sign up (a mixture of primary, secondary, pre-schools and sixth forms). Eight have achieved their bronze award and two have achieved their silver.
Gresham's pre-prep school achieved a silver award with some of the changes they made. This included:
- Switching to reusable cutlery and crockery
- Asking everyone to bring in refillable water bottles
The school also stopped using single-use plastics, such as sauce sachets. They are currently working to eliminate any plastic (wrappings etc) from breaktime snacks. Teachers have cut out single-use plastics in the staffroom. The school has worked with suppliers to reduce the amount of single-use packaging on products/deliveries coming into school.
The service has worked closely with the national refill campaign to expand the number of refill locations across the county. This now includes most Norfolk libraries as well as other cafes, businesses and public buildings. This takes the total in Norfolk to over 500.
This pledge continues across our schools and supports children to think about their surroundings. It also helps them understand how their choices can make changes to the world in which they live.
