SPECIAL SECTION – Sustainable PTAs
with recommended donations. Swishing evening: Prevent clothes from going to landfill with a clothes-swapping evening. Guests bring in their clothes in exchange for a voucher, which they can then use to buy back the same number of items as they brought in. All items should be freshly laundered, ironed and in good repair. Charge a ‘per person’ admission fee to raise funds, and invite external stallholders to attend, selling beauty products, gifts or accessories. Used book swap: Ask people to bring in their old books to swap with others, making money through an admission fee and refreshments. Sort the books into age groups and get children and adults involved. You could invite them to dress up and serve themed goodies to make it a more magical experience. Second-hand uniform: Giving school uniform another turn means families save money, and items that would otherwise go to landfill are reused. If you have a handy parent who’s willing to take on the second- hand sale, you can make it about even more than just receiving and reselling items. Damaged clothes can be upcycled – for example, you could make hair scrunchies from stained or damaged summer dresses, or reuse the buttons from an unrepairable cardigan.
Recycle Recycling schemes are a fantastic
way to raise money without the time and effort of holding an event. For volunteers who want to help but are short of time, running one or two recycling collections a year can be their contribution. Encourage local businesses to support your scheme to maximise your profits. Potential fundraisers include: Textiles: Clothes, curtains, bedding, shoes and soft toys can all be recycled through textile collection companies such as
rags2riches4schools.co.uk, who pay a fixed price per kilo of clothing collected. Printer cartridges: Collect printer cartridges from your school and local businesses by sending out letters and
46 SPRING 2020
pta.co.uk
‘We upcycle empty glass bottles’
‘One of our PTA committee members had the wonderful idea of upcycling empty glass bottles into bottle lights. With so many gins in beautiful bottles out there, it seemed a fantastic opportunity to make something useful and attractive from the empties. Fancy prosecco bottles work really well, too. LED string lights can be purchased online, complete with a battery pack in the ‘cork’, and are easy to pop into a clean, empty bottle. The batteries can be replaced so the lights have a long shelf life. Initially, we asked parents to donate their empties, but the bottle lights proved so popular, we struggled to obtain enough to keep up with demand. One of our members therefore started forging relationships with local pubs and bars, who we found were more than happy to donate their empty bottles. We sell the bottle lights for £3 each.’ Sarah Everson, PTA secretary, Halsford Park Primary School, East Grinstead, West Sussex (415 pupils)
providing collection boxes. Companies such as emptiesplease. com will pay around £1 for every cartridge they can recycle. CDs/DVDs/games: Websites such as
musicmagpie.co.uk pay for old media. Enter the barcodes of CDs, DVDs and games (or scan through its handy app) to see how much they are worth and then send them off via Freepost. As long as the original sleeve is intact, with a visible barcode on the back, it can be recycled (but do make it clear to parents that promotional DVDs and CDs, such as those that come free with newspapers, don’t count). TerraCycle: This international programme allows you to recycle
the ‘non-recyclable’, including coffee capsules, pens and crisp packets, and earn funds for your school while you do it. TerraCycle offers free recycling programmes funded by brands, manufacturers and retailers around the world to help you collect and recycle your hard-to-recycle waste. Choose the programmes you’d
like to join; start collecting in school; download free shipping labels and send in your waste to be recycled. Many of TerraCycle’s programmes offer TerraCycle points, which are redeemable for 1p per point for your school. Points vary by programme, and there is often a minimum weight, which is where promoting the scheme to your school and the wider community will help. It’s not the biggest earner, but it does reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and incinerators and raise environmental awareness while topping up school funds Visit
terracycle.com/en-GB
to find out more and enrol your school as an official collection point. TerraCycle also has a range of free resources, including posters, guides and upcycling inspiration. And finally, check out our suppliers’ directory (
pta.co.uk/ suppliers) for a list of recycling companies near you.
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