RHS Refillable Bottle Initiative

The Eco Committee has spearheaded a campaign to reduce single-use plastic (SUP) across the school community by providing each pupil with a reusable stainless steel water bottle.

The topic of single-use plastic (SUP) continues to be hotly debated and remains, quite rightly, within the media spotlight. Last year, the school's Eco Committee, which comprises of both staff and pupils, took a long, hard look at the school's approach to SUP.

One of its most staggering discoveries was that, as a school, we were using nearly 10,000 plastic water bottles a year. To demonstrate what that looked like in the real world, the committee arranged for a skip to be placed at the front of the school and after just two weeks, it was full to the brim with plastic bottles with many of them never even being used.

In light of this, the Eco Committee suggested that we stop providing bottled water throughout the entire school. Instead, they recommended that every RHS pupil should be provided with a reusable water bottle that they can use at school and when away on trips and fixtures. Therefore, we will be issuing all our pupils with a free, RHS branded water bottle throughout next week.

The high-quality stainless steel bottle has a 500ml capacity. The water throughout the school is drinkable and there are water stations at several locations within the school including the Dining Hall where pupils can fill their bottle either before school or at break or lunch time.

We're delighted we've been able to implement the Eco Committee's idea and will continue to look for additional ways to improve our approach to the world we live in.