Through Telford & Wrekin Council’s Climate Change Fund, Redhill Primary Academy received a grant to purchase a Large Ridan Food Waste composter. Redhill Primary wanted to educate children about composting, after an in-school exercise showed the staff and children that an average school day produced 37kg of food waste. They were able to demonstrate to the children that they can recycle all of their food waste onsite, as soon as it has been discarded, saving it from going to landfill. The compost produced by the composter is then used to enrich the school grounds' soil, reducing carbon in that atmosphere through plant growth.

This project has made a huge difference to the school. The children are very excited to start using the composter and they’ve planned to augment the project with an in-school campaign to reduce the amount of food the children are leaving and disposing of at lunchtime.

To do this they are using the Love Food, Hate Waste website; with the aim of giving the children the bigger picture and some context. A whole-school assembly was used to highlight the connection between food waste and climate change.

The staff at Redhill have incorporated the composting system into their curriculum, ensuring that children all have an opportunity to be involved. Their pupil ‘Eco-Warriors’ have been a key part of this project, working hard throughout the year to bring children and staff awareness around electricity consumption, water consumption and recycling. This project has also enabled a reduction in the amount of bin bags used to hold waste and the cost of vehicles having to collect food waste.

To continue their environmental work in the school, the Eco-Warriors are now focusing on the amount of single-use plastic produced by packed lunches and are designing an information sheet for the school community.

The estimated annual carbon reduction is 0.0180375 tonnes^6. Based upon composting 37 kg of food waste, 5 days a week during the school year.