Number of Students: 540
Location: Mounttown Upper, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
School Type: Boys School
CBC Monkstown Park were only starting off on their Green-Schools journey when they registered for the Neat Streets Programme. The committee was made up of mostly Transition Year students. The Green-Schools Coordinator felt that the TY students were the group to work with as they could give the most time to the Programme. Once the TY’s had implemented the Programme the plan was then to expand the Green-Schools committee into the other year groups the following year. Neat Street Officer Stephen visited to the school on Friday 15 November, the same day RTÉ and the Houses of the Oireachtas convened the country’s first ever Youth Assembly on Climate in Dáil Éireann. CBC MP had a student representative participating in the youth assembly and the whole school tuned in to watch. Stephen and the students had a great discussion about how our waste is contributing to climate change and how we can reduce our waste, and thus, it’s harmful impacts!
Action Planning:
The committee got together in September and drew up an action plan with their goals for the year. They treated their action plan as a living document, and they amended it and added to it over the course of the year when they saw what needed to be addressed and what was and wasn’t working.
| ACTION | PERSON RESPONSIBLE | TIME FRAME | STATUS |
| Contact Panda to get recycling bins | Green-Schools Coordinator | By the end of September | Complete |
| Get differentiated bins in the canteen, staff room and locker areas | Green-Schools Committee | At the start of the year, later to be upgraded in the locker rooms | Complete |
| Set up a litter monitoring system to target problem areas | Bin Wardens | From first day of school | Ongoing |
| Asked the canteen to use compostable containers instead of plastic ones | Green-Schools Committee | Start of the year | Complete |
| Set up an Instagram account | PR Group of Committee | Within Two Weeks | Complete |
| Organise a slogan competition | Green-Schools Committee | September | Complete |
| Design posters for awareness raising | Green Schools Committee | September | Complete |
| Contact board of management and parents’ council for funding | Green-Schools Coordinator & Head of Committee | October | Complete |
| Use slogans as part of Green Code | Green-Schools Committee | February | Complete |
| Contact Monkstown Tidy Towns | Green-Schools Coordinator | March | Complete |
| Inform parents of the work which the committee is doing | Whole Committee | Throughout the year via newsletter and twitter | Ongoing |
| Educate the student body on litter and waste | Whole Committee | Throughout the year via newsletter and twitter | Ongoing |
| Ban single-use plastics | Whole Committee & Principal | For the next school year | Complete |
| Get our Green Code into the school journal | Whole Committee & Principal | For the next school year | Ongoing |
| Get segregated bins into classrooms | Green-Schools Committee | By the end of the school year | Incomplete due to Covid-19 |
| Plan a Litter Action Day | Green-Schools Committee | May | Incomplete due to Covid-19 |
| Get involved with National Spring Clean | Green-Schools Committee | June | Socially-distanced cleanup organised. COMPLETE!!! |
Awareness Campaigns:
1) The ‘Bin it to Win it’ Litter Competition
This was a competition run between the year groups. Each year group was in charge of keeping their locker room and their canteen tables litter free. Each area was graded three times daily by our litter wardens. Marks were awarded each week to the winning year group. This was a very successful campaign and there was a huge decease in the amount of litter observed in these areas and the school in general.
2) A Litter Awareness Campaign To Educate The Students
By studying the results of the Bin it to Win it competition and student behaviour in the canteen, it became apparent that the Junior year groups were not completely sure as to what went into which bin. Off the back of these observations the committee decided to go into classes to educate the students on what can and cannot be recycled and what goes into each bin. We used information from Stephens Neat Streets presentation to help inform the students of the correct recycling procedures.
3) A Litter Slogan Competition
In October we ran a litter slogan competition. The three winning entries received vouchers and also now feature on our CBC Green code.
Introduced A Litter Management System
- Canteen
At the beginning of the school year they set up a differentiated bin system in the canteen. Green and brown bins were placed in the canteen. This was a big achievement as previously there were only general waste bins here. They then contacted their waste provider who supplied them with the differentiated bins.
- Locker Areas
Students identified the need for differentiated bins in the locker areas. A meeting was held with the Board of Management to obtain finance for bins and some funding was granted. CBC MP also wrote to the Parents Council requesting some financial support which they also granted to them. The committee researched the bins themselves and chose one that they felt worked best for them. The bins arrived just after the school closed due to the COVID crisis.
- Staffroom
A waste recycling system was set up in the staffroom also in September, introducing a green and a brown bin.
Introduced Recycling:
CBC MP successfully introduced a recycling system into the school canteen and staffroom. The locker area bins have only been in place since COVID-19.
- Single-use Plastic Bottles
All single-use plastic bottles have been banned from the CBC campus from September 2020.
- Canteen
In September they approached the food provider in the canteen and asked them to change their food containers from plastic to compostable. They changed almost straight away. This was a hugely positive change from the point of view of recycling within the school.
Days of Action:
- Climate Strike
The TY group went to the Climate Strike in September in Dublin. This was a school activity and the group made banners in advance. It was a great way to engage in such an important issue and raised huge awareness amongst the group of the seriousness of Climate change.
- Litter Pick Day (2nd years)
The committee had planned to have a litter pick day for the 2nd years in May as they were the group, the committee felt that they needed to engage more in the process. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 the 2nd years did not get to do this.
- National Spring Clean
CBC MP registered for the National Spring Clean and although the original date was cancelled due to COVID-19 the committee organised a socially distance clean-up on June 8th!!
- Monkstown Tidy District
The Green-Schools committee also contacted the local Tidy District committee and met up a few times to discuss how students could collaborate with them. Both committees agreed certain areas of the locality to target but once again COVID-19 did not allow them to see this through.
What Elements of the Neat Streets Programme Did Your School Find Most Useful?
- Stephens Visit and Presentation
We all agreed that we got a lot out of Stephens visit and his very informative presentation. His enthusiasm was infectious, and it really helped to focus us.
- The Litter Pickers and Gloves
The litter pickers and the gloves were absolutely essential to us. We used them consistently on class litter picks.
- The Grant For Litter Campaign Prizes
The Neat Streets grant allowed us to give a great Bin it to Win it prize to the winning year group at Christmas. We organised a pizza party for them after all of their hard work.
After Stephens visit, we set up an Instagram account to help get our message out. Since the closures we have not posted much but we intend to improve on this over the coming year.
