Outdoor Education Research

One of the perennial headaches of many headteachers or school governors is keeping down the litter and making sure the school looks clean and tidy, both on the inside and the outside.

With hundreds or rowdy and messy children around with a penchant for potato crisps and confectionary – this can be an uphill struggle. Fortunately there is one weapon available in the fight against litter at schools – the humble school bin.

School bins do differ to conventional household rubbish bins in that they have to cope with a larger quantity of waste and also have to be practical and durable enough to withstand the surliest of school teenager.

There are really two types of bins needed in schools. Outdoor school bins and those for indoor use. Each of course has to cope with different demands and its important to think about these when selecting rubbish bins for school.

An outdoor bin has to large enough to cope with all those crisp packets and soda pop cans that are disposed of throughout lunch breaks but also an outside school bin has to cope with the demands of the weather.

An outdoor school bin is also often left in areas without supervision, so not only does the bin have to be durable in case somebody decides to kick it around one lunch time, it also needs to be safe and not pose a hazard to any of the school children.

For indoor use, the bins have to be less durable and obviously don’t have to cope with the weather but they still have to be large enough to cope with the demands of the hundreds of people that will be using it.

When it comes to school bins there is another important thing to remember and that’s quantity. Teenagers can be incredibly lazy and some may find a walk down the corridor or across the playground too far to throw their crisp packet away and if there is not another bin close by the crisp packet could end up on the floor.

The school bin is perhaps the most important tool we have in keeping our schools clean and tidy so it makes sense to get it right.