Eco Centres

In August 2004, the Countryside Education Trust gained the Green Flag award for the second time. The Eco Centres award scheme (managed by Encams which runs the Tidy Britain campaign) is designed to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of a centre for all its staff and visitors.

The Eco Centres award is renewable every three years until the status becomes permanent after three renewals or nine years. To receive the second award, we have had to show how we are furthering our Action Plans and reaching the targets that we have set in areas such as waste minimisation, energy efficiency and raising environmental awareness. We are very pleased with our achievements so far (such as turning waste cooked food into valuable compost in our 'Rocket Composter') but it is an on-going process and there is still much to do!

Our Rocket composter has been in place now since January 2004. There have been some teething problems but it is currently working well and producing valuable compost material for the garden. Children staying at our Out of Town Centre are involved on a daily basis filling the Rocket with waste cooked food, vegetable scraps and 'brown' material such as cardboard, leaves and garden shreddings. Children are sometimes a little disappointed to see that the machine doesn't actually look like a rocket! The name comes from the fact that it is very fast, composting material in only two weeks! This Rocket composter project was made possible with funding from the SEED programme (New Opportunities Fund). If you would like to learn more about this composting system and to see the Rocket in action, please contact us to arrange a visit.

If you are a teacher and you would like more information about Eco Schools, then do take a look at the Eco Schools website.