Canada

In Canada, over 1,100 Eco-Schools took part in the 2023 Litter Less Campaign. Almost half a million students from 257 cities conducted community clean-up events, conducted waste audits, and carried out activities related to recycling, reducing waste production, and promoting responsible consumption and production.

Ten of the participating schools have registered for Global Action Days (GAD). However, the majority of schools involved in this year's campaign carried out community actions during the GAD period without registering on the website. here are two example of school stories :

St Monica Elementary school, Montréal : "We did school yard clean up. A schedule was created for each class to go out and collect garbage and recycling from school property and neighbouring Long Term Care facility."

St. Jacinta Marto Catholic Elementary School, Brampton : "We did a week campaign for Litterless Lunches where students could earn ballots for having litterless lunches to be entered into a draw. The ballots were make from G.O.O.S. paper. The winners got to pick from a variety of reusable lunch items (e.g. reusable containers, straws, etc.)."

Schools, encouraged by the Litter Less campaign, organised a multitude of clean-up events in their schools and communities, especially in the spring to remove litter from the environment and demonstrate the power of working together. In total, 953 community clean-ups were carried out by participating schools, involving 240,258 students and 17,630 adults.

During the 2023-24 school year, the Litter Less Campaign helped collect 25,784 kg of garbage as well as 6,797 kg of recycling through community clean-ups. The average diversion rate for participating schools was 40%, meaning that a total of 425,148 kg of compostable and recyclable material has been diverted away from landfill. Schools also noted an optimisation of waste sorting in their classrooms. 87% of schools noted an increase in the number of classrooms showing optimal waste sorting and no contamination in the bins as a result of the campaign.

Participating schools report that 181,863 lunches were waste free, 36,100 more than last year. As a result of this initiative, 89% of schools saw an improvement in the number of waste-free lunches.

A total of 49,097 kg of textiles were saved from going to the landfill through textile/clothing drives, swaps and repair or repurposing campaigns, an increase of 10,394 kg compared to last year.

Through the campaign and the Eco-Schools programme, participating schools had the opportunity to collect 37,290 electronic items for recycling by a qualified organisation. The items collected included batteries, cartridges for printers, computers, cellular phones and any other devices that could not be recovered by the regular collection systems.

Students enhanced their creativity in building paper bins from recyclable materials and had placed them at their classrooms to collect the GOOS (Good On One Side) paper and reuse it for their classroom activities. A total of 15,736 GOOS paper bins were created by students this year, 1,510 more than last year.

In addition to reusing and recycling, students in 251 schools expressed their creativity in creating artwork as a way of repurposing different items such as paper, cardboard, metal, textiles and plastic.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, 183 schools with 36,000 students took part in the 2023 Litter Less Campaign. They engaged with themes such as recycling, reducing waste production, combatting marine pollution and promoting responsible consumption and production.

At Bessbrook Primary School, an assembly was held at the beginning of the campaign, and the eco-council also shared the endeavour with their classes. The students were reminded about recycling and signage was placed near the photocopier to remind staff. Students from P4-7 took part in the litter pick also so it was a group effort. The school is going to look at ways to educate and include younger students as it move forward from this. It is also included within the school’s eco-code and has also been on the most recent action plan.

At Sacred Hear Grammar Newry, the junior eco club surveyed students at lunchtime to see if they knew which bin to use for different types of litter. Following on from this the school sent information on using the school bins correctly to all junior form teachers to discuss with their class. The junior eco club also completed a litter pick once a week in the school grounds over a 6 week period. A survey and review of outdoor bin locations was then completed. Finally, as part of the Big Spring Clean, the junior and senior eco club members completed a litter pick of the school grounds and local neighbourhood area.

In 301 reported litter picks this school year, 5,885 students picked a total of 845 bags of general waste and 375 bags of recyclable waste. Participating schools submitted data from over 300 waste audits this year. In total, they found and sorted over 1000 kg of recyclable waste, 800 kg of food waste, and 800 kg of non-recyclable waste.

Additionally, over 25 schools (approximately 625 students) participated in litter picks at local beaches.


Mexico

In 2023, 6,500 students from 16 schools in 25 cities took part in the Litter Less Campaign in Mexico. The students worked on themes such as recycling, reducing waste production and responsible consumption and production.

As part of the activities of the Community Action Week, the educational community of the José Vasconcelos Elementary School, took action and participated in the cleanup of Bahía el Violín, in alliance with the Huatulco Clean Beaches Committee. This action allowed students to raise awareness about the impacts generated by waste in natural environments.

More than 1200 people participated, including 55 students and 12 teachers. A staggering 31,950 kg of recycled waste was collected. This is an average between the collection in some schools of different kind of waste as PET, paper, cardboard, aluminium, glass, and other sorting made by the students to make a economical profit from the recycling process of the materials.

Scotland

During 2023, 899 Eco-Schools and 250,000 students worked on reducing waste production, combatting marine pollution and promoting responsible consumption and production in 32 cities as a part of the Litter Less Campaign.

Alehousewells Primary School created a 'Free From Fridays' policy and award for classes. Pupils are encouraged to have a 'wrapper free snack' The scheme was presented to the school at assembly, posters were created to remind pupils and a weekly certificate was awarded to maintain awareness and encourage participation. Every Friday the Eco-Committee collects the results from classes and the P2, 3 and 4 eco monitors rotate sharing the news with the winning class. The information is shared on the eco board for the whole school to see. This has developed into a termly award, that uses a trophy that was designed and created by the pupils. They have ideas for the progression of the scheme to maintain its momentum.

In Mallaig Primary School, the children worked closely with their parent council to form a charity called ‘Mallaig Clean’. BBC Alba (TV channel) and other journalists have written articles on their charity and the children hosted a launch event to which they invited local councillors.

They worked with several local businesses, including the local ferry company. Litter picks are once a month and involve either the whole school or class at a time, and all members of the community are invited. The children have seen a decreased amount of litter in their local area.

Through Eco-Schools application received over the last year (23/24), a total of 25000 litter picks have been recorded, and 365 swap shops have been organised by schools in an aim to reduce the amount of waste generated and increase circularity of goods that already exist.