Since our Rethink Waste scheme launched, we’ve awarded £19,500 to 24 Surrey primary schools as chosen by Surrey residents who’ve signed up to the scheme. And now, with a further £2,000 on offer you too can give a gift to local kids by signing up and taking part.
The scheme works like this. You sign up to Rethink Waste and complete fun, easy online activities that help you reduce waste, for which you win points. You select your local school and donate your points to them. At the end of February and March 2025, the two schools with the most points will take home a share of £1,000 that they’ll use to fund an environmental project.
So far, over 12,000 households in Surrey have signed up to take part in Rethink Waste. They’ve completed nearly 200,000 activities and are well on their way to reducing the amount of waste produced in Surrey – a result for the planet and for Surrey councils as they will save money on disposal costs.
And Surrey residents have chosen some great projects to get behind too. Money from Rethink Waste has funded projects ranging from creating brand new outdoor classrooms to buying litter picking sets, building new guinea pig homes and building raised beds.
If you want to take part, sign up to Rethink Waste online or download the app.
- The schools taking part and the projects they’ll fund should they win are:
- Ash Grange Nursery and Primary School, Aldershot – buy litter pickers.
- Ashley CofE Primary School, Walton-on-Thames – buy a new polytunnel.
- Barnsbury Primary School and Nursery, Woking – buy gardening equipment and to reline the school’s pond.
- Beaufort Primary School, Woking – build a hedgehog haven.
- Buckland Primary School, Staines-upon-Thames – increase recycling facilities and build animal homes.
- Cleves School, Weybridge – build green canopy roofs and benches.
- Cuddington Community Primary School, Worcester Park – develop an eco area to attract wildlife to the school.
- Earlswood Infant and Nursery School, Redhill – create a sensory garden.
- Fetcham Village Infant School, Leatherhead – develop woodland area.
- The Hermitage Infant School, Woking – run a project to reduce litter.
- Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, Woking – create a recycling centre.
- Leatherhead Trinity School and Nursery – implement a food waste recycling system for the school.
- Loseley Fields Primary School, Godalming – build a wildlife and wellbeing garden.
- Meadhurst Primary School, Ashford – build bug hotels and make the school more friendly to wildlife and insects.
- Meath Green Infant School, Horley – develop food recycling and set up a community milk fridge.
- Merrow Junior School, Guildford – buy litter pickers and plant wildflowers.
- Northmead Junior School, Guildford – expand outdoor education area.
- Polesden Lacey Infant School, Leatherhead – buy litter pickers and help a solar panel project.
- Puttenham CofE Infant School, Guildford – buy new palm drills, a saw, poles to create a den, a slack line and a bench for a mud kitchen.
- Saxon Primary School, Shepperton – install bug houses, a hedgehog house and a pergola.
- Shere CofE Aided Infant School, Guildford – buy flower seeds, trees and create a canopy.
- St Alban’s Catholic Primary School, Molesey – buy signs for a recycling station, develop food recycling and set up a school farm shop.
- St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, Banstead – buy litter pickers.
- St James CofE Primary School, Weybridge – develop green spaces and an allotment.
- St John’s Primary School, Redhill – create a year-round, outdoor learning environment.
- St Martin’s CofE Primary School, Dorking – develop a nature-friendly area.
- Walton-on-the-Hill Primary School, Tadworth – create class gardens for every year group.
- Walton Oak Primary School, Walton-on-Thames – install recycling stations, run waste reduction workshops and buy eco resources.
- Warren Mead Junior School, Banstead – improve the school’s outdoor areas such as its vegetable patch, pond and music area.
- Woodlea Primary School, Caterham – buy litter pickers, pond dipping equipment, seeds and compost.