Skip to content
Cowbins prove an un’herd’ of success in Lewisham ››
Lewisham Council has taken the ‘bull by the horns’ on recycling and is reporting an un’herd’ of increase in recycling in schools as a result of installing Cowbins in schools across the borough.
Lewisham was the first local authority in the UK to introduce recycling bins designed with a Friesian finish from market waste management leader, Taylor, and has seen the yield of recyclable materials increase by a phenomenal 61 per cent. Since then, more than1,000 recycling bins, disguised as cows, have been introduced in more than 40 schools across the country.
With children actively ‘feeding the cows’ across the country, over 800 tonnes of school waste has been collected via the Cowbins, reducing incidents of fly-tipping and vandalism, which is a costly problem to many schools.
Councillor Susan Wise, Cabinet Member for Customer Services at Lewisham Council, said: “The cows were fed plastic bottles, cans, card, paper and glass over a three month trail period. The concept really inspired children, raised awareness about an important issue and encouraged more people to recycle more often. In fact, the project increased the yield of recyclable materials by over three tonnes from January to March and we have since placed an order for a further herd of 80 Cowbins.”
Dr David Gillett, a Director of Taylor, comments: “We are delighted with the success of the Cowbin, which is capturing children’s imaginations and making recycling more fun. This is key since England’s schools produce a shocking 258,300 tonnes of day-to-day waste each year and around 80 per cent of it is could be easily recycled or composted. With school waste now classified as ‘controlled waste’, its treatment and disposal can also contribute to a Local Authority’s recycling and landfill targets so we would urge pupils and teachers alike to show a further commitment to on-site recycling in the coming year.”
Evidence of the success of the Cowbin follows a study conducted by WRAP earlier this year, which revealed that the amount of waste produced in the 20,871 primary and secondary schools is almost double the amount previously estimated, with an average of 45kg or 22kg of waste being generated by each primary and secondary school pupil respectively. WRAP’s report also highlights the importance of education, advising that helping both pupils and teachers understand what can and cannot be recycled will help reduce the contamination rate for recyclables.
Gillett comments: “We were not surprised by the results of the report – we have been aware for a long time that schools could easily recycle much more than they currently do and the importance of an educational package to increase participation. This is why we introduced the Cowbin and produced a simple but fun booklet to encourage children of all ages to ‘feed’ the containers the correct recyclables, as well as encourage them to actively think about recycling from a young age.”