Plastic bottles banned at Sheffield school

Students at Parkwood E-ACT Academy, in Shirecliffe, have been given a reuseable water bottle after plastic ones were banned from the school site.

The idea for the ban came from students after they watched an episode of popular television documentary Blue Planet 2.

The reuseble bottle has been made part of their basic equipment which they are required to bring into school everyday.

Teacher Sean McGillian said: "Many conscientious students already bring re-useable plastic bottles day-in-day-out for their packed lunch, but even if half our cohort throw away one plastic bottle every day, we are still adding 450 plastic bottles to the already vast problem.

"We knew this wasn’t the right thing to do, and at Parkwood we always aim to do the right thing.

"Soon the decision was made, plastic bottled beverages cause the most plastic waste, so we need to limit this as much as possible."

The ban was introduced on Monday, April 16.

Headteacher Vicky Simcock said the move was part of developing students into becoming responsible people.

"At Parkwood we believe it is vital to develop our students not just academically but as world-wide, responsible citizens," she said.

"As such when they came up with the idea of becoming a more environmentally friendly school and stopping the use of disposable plastic bottles in the academy it was an easy decision for leaders to support.

"Here at Parkwood E-ACT Academy we embody the value of 'doing the right thing' and as such from April 16th all students were issued with a refillable Parkwood water bottle.

"Plastic bottles will no longer be available in the Academy and will be banned from the school site.

"The sea of plastic that is now clogging up our oceans and the scientific evidence of plastic particles in sea food means that we are now probably consuming plastic as part of the human diet.

"This is part of the wider education and debates, that we are exploring with our students through the PSHE curriculum."