Our newly formed Eco Group is ensuring that we are doing our bit to remove plastic waste from ending up being dumped by creating environmentally friendly sculptures.
We are working with Haslingden Primary School to create eco-bricks and these will be made into two archway sculptures – one at each school.
An eco-brick is a used large plastic bottle filled with clean plastic waste like crisp packets that are not widely recycled. These are scrunched and then stuffed into the bottle until the plastic bottle is hard enough to take someone’s weight and can no longer be squeezed.
Head of Geography, Mrs Haworth said: “I have some students in Year 7 who are really interested in the environment.
“They have been watching Greta Thunberg, who was 15 when she began protesting in Stockholm about the environment, climate change and global warming and she also spoke at the UN Conference.
“She is a similar age to the students and so they can relate to her. It doesn’t take much to start to make a difference.”
The first student at Haslingden High School to complete a brick was 12-year-old Neve Butcher and she is now making her second.
She said: “I decided to make an eco-brick because it is good for the environment and I think it is better than plastic ending up in the ocean.”
Once the sculptures have been built it is planned to make planters out of the eco-bricks and then grow trailing plants over the bottles.
Mrs Haworth added: “We are happy to receive donations of eco-bricks from the community. What you have to remember is the contents have to be clean, dry and squished.”
“I managed to do the whole of my beam routine without a mistake. At one stage I was struggling and I got a bit scared but I just focused and concentrated.”