When it comes to diversion of waste from landfill Green-Schools are showing an average reduction of 45% waste to landfill.

Schools that have just started the Green-Schools programme are on average sending ~ 53g of waste per person per day to landfill. For schools that are half way through the programme the average is ~ 37g per person per day, while within awarded Green-Schools the average ~ 29g per person per day.However, some Green-Schools are producing as little as 2g per person per day.

When Irish primary school students from schools that have completed the Green-Schools programme are compared with students from primary schools that have never undertaken the programme for their levels of environmental awareness, behaviour, opinion leadership and a number of related topics the following results are apparent.

• Awareness levels about environmental issues among both types of students are very similar.
• When it comes to positive behaviour towards the environment, students within the awarded Green-Schools are less likely to drop less litter while being more likely to participate in local environment projects, conserve water, energy and think about the environment when making a purchase.
• Green-Schools students discuss the environment and associated issues in more settings, more often. Discussion within the classroom setting is particularly high among Green-Schools students. Furthermore, Green-Schools students generally encourage others to be environmentally friendly more than their Non-Green School counterparts. In essence the Green-Schools students are better environmental opinion leaders.
• Green-Schools students feel that environmental problems are an urgent problem whereas Non-Green-Schools students consider these to be more of a problem for the future.
• Green-School students identify teachers as the main source of information on the environment. Among Non-Green-Schools students television and radio is the main source of this information.
• Recycling levels of glass, paper/cardboard and aluminium along with levels of home composting are higher within the homes of Green-Schools students than within the homes of Non-Green-Schools students.
• 91% of students within Non-Green-Schools felt that they could do something about the state of the environment. This number was even higher among Green-Schools students at 96%.
• The main environmental concern indicated by both Green-Schools and Non-Green-Schools students was litter. This was followed among Green-Schools students by the lack of an environmentally friendly culture in Ireland and among Non-Green-Schools students by the lack of recycling facilities in Ireland.
• The current work has revealed a moderate positive relationship between behaviour towards the environment and opinion leadership (discussion and encouragement) among both Green-Schools and Non-Green-Schools students.
• The current study indicates that awareness levels do not directly impact behaviour towards the environment. For more information on Green-Schools Research contact:

  Dr. Michael John O' Mahony, Green-Schools Development Officer,
  An Taisce, 5A Swift’s Alley, Francis Street, Dublin 8.
  Tel: 01 400 2222 Fax: 01-4541802 Email: greenschools@antaisce.org

For more information on Ireland's Green-Schools Programme, please contact:

Jane Helps, Green-Schools Manager,
An Taisce, 5A Swift’s Alley, Francis Street, Dublin 8.
Tel: 01 400 2222 Fax: 01 454 1802 E-mail: greenschools@antaisce.org

Click here to go to the International Eco-Schools Programme web site
(www.eco-schools.org).