Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (October 28, 2018)   Students at Repton Abu Dhabi are making a commitment to reduce their carbon footprint and save the world’s oceans from the serious effects of plastic pollution. 

 

With the help of their teachers, students have made a series of pledges, and all classes within the school’s Rose and Fry campuses (currently FS1 to Year 9), are

taking part in the sustainability initiative which will operate for the entire academic year.  The commitment is in line with the Year of Zayed’s Sustainability agenda.  

 

The school has formed an “Eco Club”, where members are responsible for implementing ideas to conserve energy and recycle materials across the school. Central to this is an endeavor to reduce the number of plastic water bottles used this year by 340,000, a figure which was estimated based on previous years usage, where a child would typically use 10 disposable plastic bottles per week. All students are now encouraged to bring single use water bottles to school.  Children are also being encouraged to reduce the amount of plastic packaging used in their packed lunches, and where it is used, to ensure that it’s effectively re-cycled.  Other commitments include reducing the use of paper and where it is used, to only use recycled paper sources. Students also reduce energy consumption by switching off lights in unused rooms.

 

Gillian Hammond, Principal comments: “Since our campuses were established over 5 years ago, we have encouraged the children to think carefully about how much energy and water these very large buildings require to operate, and how they can play a part in reducing it.  We started with simple every-day initiatives, such as the last student in class always turning off the light and the recycling of all waste paper used across the school.  Those small gestures soon gathered momentum, and with the commitment of our students, their teachers and parents, and through the support of our Eco Club, have turned into a much larger effort.

 

It’s very encouraging to see just how strongly our children feel about this very important issue, and how much they are set on helping to save the planet. This responsibility has been given greater prominence by our alliance to the UAE’s 2021 Vision and more specifically by The Year of Zayed’s sustainability agenda, which has definitely given our pledge additional meaning.”