WITH 100 places up for grabs, primary schools across West Cork are being urged to sign up for a free Plastic Free 4 Schools workshop being rolled out across the county.
These workshops are the brainchild of Dr Tara Shine and Madeleine Murray, co-founders of the social enterprise, Change by Degrees and Plastic Free Kinsale.
They designed the programme to help schools reduce their use of single use plastics and to enable schools and their pupils to be ambassadors for reducing plastic waste in their communities
‘You can lead by example to turn the tide on plastic pollution by showing what can be done and by having fun doing it,’ said Dr Shine and Madeleine Murray.
The duo have received funding from the Community Foundation to roll out these free workshops to 100 schools in the county between February and June 2020 and are aiming to have 300 primary in Ireland Plastic Free 4 School members by the end of 2020.
‘Plastic Free 4 Schools is a programme designed to empower primary schools to take action by following our simple steps and using our tool kit, guides and resources.
Ann Foulds, schools outreach officer for the programme will be in touch with schools that sign up to arrange a date and time for their free workshop.
‘The workshops used interactive toys and activities and set three actions for students to take, like making their lunch single-use plastic free. The students are always so engaged and inquisitive for the challenge,’ said Ann Foulds.
Last year, Change by Degrees delivered these workshops to 4,276 students in 49 schools in County Tipperary with the support of the Tony Ryan Fund for Tipperary.
Interested primary schools should see changebydegrees.com/plasticfree4schools
