PUPILS at a Holywell primary school have impressed the local mayor with their knowledge of the environment and put forward their findings from an investigation around the town.

Children in Year One and Two classes at Ysgol Maes y Felin had invited the town mayor, Cllr Paul Johnson, to their school for a presentation and group discussion about caring for the environment.

The children told Cllr Johnson about what they have learnt from looking into what exactly can be recycled.

Looking at what can be managed in their own building, the children raised the issue of the amount of non-recyclable waste produced from the provision of milk by the school.

Class teacher Mrs Tamsin Nellist said: “Approximately 600 small bottles of milk per week currently make their way into the general waste bins as the milk is packaged in non-recyclable bottles. The school has looked at the possibility of perhaps using larger bottles of milk and decanting the milk into reusable beakers for the children.

“As yet the suppliers have not been able to fulfil this request.”

However, it is not all bad news at snack time as all waste fruit currently goes into the school compost bins and every effort is taken to reduce, reuse and recycle.

As part of the schools eco-friendly drive, some pupils went to visit the towns high street businesses to see how they tackle waste.

One business the pupils highlighted to the mayor was The Flower Bowl which queried why they were not allowed a brown bin as they have a lot of natural waste which currently must go in the general waste bins.

On this note, Cllr Johnson has offered to investigate this, and the school have offered to fundraise on behalf of the Flower Bowl to pay the collection fees for this brown bin service.

Issues were also raised about the number of recycling bins in the town too which Cllr Paul Johnson has pledged to write to the Head of Streetscene about with the hope of placing more bins in and around the local leisure centre – where the children identified a shortfall.

The children also said they liked the Town Council’s child friendly bins and would like to see more around the town and placed in schools – it was suggested that they could apply for Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme to help fund this.

Amongst all those ventures discussed, the class also told Cllr Johnson how pupils now use both sides of paper and also use scrap paper for drawing after the class discovered they were wasting around £500 a year.

Mrs Nellist added: “It was a pleasure to welcome Cllr Johnson to Ysgol Maes y Felin. He had a lovely way with the children and really engaged them in active discussion. He was really impressed by the children’s knowledge of global warming, recycling and how keen they are to help our environment.”

Reflecting on his visit, Cllr Paul Johnson said: “Overall, this was an immensely successful, educational and worthwhile visit to Ysgol Maes y Felin. The children were a pleasure and were all extremely polite and engaging and a credit to the school.

“The staff and pupils go above and beyond with attempting to reduce waste – all staff have even pledged not to use disposable coffee cups and have all bought reusable cups which they carry with them everywhere. It is no surprise that the school has been awarded a platinum eco award as every single member of the school is involved with waste reduction and recycling.

“We look forward to partnering with the school on our forthcoming bins project and will also look forward to visiting the school again shortly to judge the Best Schools Garden Award in July.”

Cllr Johnson also said that it was unfortunate that there is currently no eco council in place at Ysgol Treffynnon to continue the amazing efforts of Ysgol Maes y Felin.