Mark Potter, Sustainability Committee co-chair: “Four years ago, Chadwick International launched its first ever sustainability committee, pioneered by former teacher, Mr. Chris Brodie. Over the past 4 years the sustainability committee, which is comprised of faculty, staff, students, parents, as well as the partnerships we have formed with companies such as Our Home and TerraCycle, have worked together to take action to make our school healthier and more sustainable. We are thankful that the sustainability committee continues to be comprised of all the key players needed to turn ideas into realities. The support that is given to this committee by administrators at CI, by teachers, staff, CIPA, and students, as well as our community partnerships is tremendous, and greatly appreciated, and it ensures that we continue to be able to turn our ideas into authentic actions.
Last year, the decision was made to join Eco Schools, to ensure that we empower our students to have a voice, and to provide them with opportunities to take meaningful, authentic action. Eco-Schools is a global programme engaging 19.5 million students across 67 countries and for nearly 25 years has been empowering children to drive change and improve their environmental awareness. We are delighted that Chadwick International is part of the Eco Schools programme, and we are honored to have recently been awarded the highly-coveted Eco-Schools green flag. This award makes CI the first school in South Korea to be awarded a green flag, and we now join just a handful of other international schools around the world to have been awarded one. Although we recognize that we still have progress to make in many areas, we are pleased that our efforts have been internationally recognized and acknowledged, and we are excited to continue our sustainability journey by working on new sustainability projects, generated by our students, to ensure that we maintain our green flag status in the years to come.”
Chadwick International has ensured that all 12 of the Eco themes have been incorporated into our curriculum throughout Pre-K to Grade 12. This year they were particularly focused on reducing waste, supporting their own Eco Code of 'No Plastic is Fantastic' (decided after surveying the community) to raise awareness about the amount of single-use plastic used at school.
Mark Potter: “We have many projects that we are working on aimed at reducing our waste. Our recent successes have included:
- Using reusable bentos boxes for packed lunches on field trips
- Installing umbrella driers instead of having plastic covers for wet umbrellas
- Installing refillable water stations throughout the school reducing the need for paper cups and plastic water coolers
- Establishing a partnership with TerraCycle whereby we provide them with used toothbrushes, which TerraCycle recycle and turn into reusable bags and plant pots
In order to evaluate the outcomes of the programme we monitor the data provided on the refillable water stations that shows how many single-use plastic bottles we save by using refillable water bottles. We then displayed these data electronically through our digital screens located throughout the school. We also created a Sustainability newsletter that is shared with the school community which communicates our successes and future plans of what we are trying to achieve.”
Way to go Chadwick International and South Korea!