There are lots of great ways to help your school community Reduce, Reuse and Recycle more whilst also raising funds for school projects. You might even need to raise some funds to pay for new recycling bins or a school compost bin. Below are lots of ideas and links to help you.
Teachers! Why not link these events to the curriculum by getting the kids involved in planning and organising them.
Visit the Devon Funding News for details of the latest funds suitable for schools to apply for.
You also might find further funding opportunities through websites like Grants4Schools or the GRIN website.
The National Education Nature Park has collated a list of funding for school biodiversity projects, which could include recycling or composting projects. See the list here: Finding funding | Education Nature Park
Did you know there are several companies that will pay for your unwanted clothes? Schools can use these to raise money.
Textiles can include clothes, curtains, bedding, shoes, bags, and soft toys. Companies will pay a set price per kilogram of textiles collected, however, it is often worth shopping around to find the best price.
Here are a some links to companies you could arrange to do your textile recycling with:
Each company will work in a slightly different way, but as an example if you were to choose Bag 2 School, here is how it works:
Perhaps if you have some clothes lying around after your Table Top or jumble sale/Give and Take/Uniform Swap, you could get them recycled and earn those extra £££’s.
Children often outgrow school uniform before it wears out, so clothes in good condition can end up being thrown in the bin. In the South West over 80,000 school uniforms end up in the bin. What a waste!
Encourage students and parents to swap clothes or sell them secondhand to raise money for the school.
Some schools (such as Maynards School in Exeter) have a shop where secondhand uniform is handed back to the school and sold on to new pupils and the money raised goes back to the school. This could help create a culture where new uniform is the exception rather than the rule.
Honiton Community College asked parents to donate uniform, which it was then able to distribute to pupils who needed new sizes.
Torbay has a charity called Punks Against Poverty which has collected uniform to donate to people across the area.
The PTFA at Duchy Primary School run a regular school uniform swap, where old uniform can be donated and picked up for free. They run a stall at the school every couple of weeks – meaning you’re never far away from a new-to-you school uniform. This helps fight poverty and keeps uniform cycling around families, rather than sitting in drawers when it is the wrong size.
If your school tries one of these ideas – let us know!
You can promote Table Top Sales (also called jumble sales or Bring-and-Buy sales) to your whole school community as a fantastic opportunity to clear out the house!
Similar to table top sales, but without the price tags. Not everyone has to give in order to take!
How to run a Give Take Event for Schools.pdf
Give and Take Category Labels.doc
Give and Take Letter Home Template.doc
There are a number of companies who will take your unwanted books, CDs, DVDs and games and exchange them for cash!
This can be a good way of raising money from stuff that is sitting around people’s houses, especially as many charity shops are now closed or not accepting donations due to Covid.
A swish is a clothes swap where good quality clothes are swapped. There is usually an entrance fee, maybe including a free drink, and you can then swap a certain number of items. See this guide on Recycle Devon.
Ink Cartridges
Instead of throwing away used ink cartridges, why not sign up to have them recycled? Companies such as Empties Please have school recycling schemes already set up!
Mobile Phone Recycling
With new phones coming out every year there is an increasing need for phone recycling. Educate your school about the need to recycle batteries and mobile phones with our KS2 workshop about batteries and our KS3 workshop about the important elements in mobile phones and their impact on the environment.
Some companies (e.g. Music magpie / Gecko Mobile / Recycle Kings) will collect up devices and give you back some money. Every phone/CD and DVD has a value, so get collecting now!
Don’t forget to promote your event, this will make a massive difference to the amount you raise.
Parents need plenty of time to plan clearing out the house and organise getting the stuff they have found into school.
Send letters home, use posters around the school, get the kids excited and talking about it!
Perhaps encourage the children by awarding the class who bring in the most donations a non-school uniform day.
Disclaimer: There are many companies that can provide these services, those mentioned above are a good starting point. Devon County Council does not accept any responsibility for the service provided.
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