‘Pop up’ shop for unwanted school uniform

What did you do and how did you involve the whole school?

The Eco-Committee gave a ‘call for help’ to our school community to design posters to promote re-using school uniform. The whole school completed a home/school task with their families to design a poster to advertise a ‘pop up shop.’ The Eco-Committee chose a number of winning designs and put these around the school. They carried out a baseline survey and revisited after the shop and work carried out across the curriculum.

How and why did you decide on this target?

Outcomes from our environmental review were written into our Eco Action Plan. One of the areas of focus being to ‘reduce waste,’ and promoting: ‘refuse, reduce, reuse, resell, recycle.’

How has the project impacted on your school and your community?

A cross-section of 54 pupils were surveyed before and after the actions on ‘waste reduction’ including the enterprise ‘pop up shop.’ There was a measureable impact on behaviour, attitudes, knowledge and understanding:

• Is it ok to wear uniform that has been worn before? 87% yes à 100% yes
• Do you know why we are trying to reduce waste from clothing? 46% yesà 81% yes
• Children improved their knowledge and understanding of where material for clothes comes from and how clothes are made.
• 100% children now aware reusing school uniform can save money and help the environment.
• Over 115 pieces of school uniform prevented from going to landfill.