Case study – Brynseng school
Brynseng School is a newly built school certified as an environmental beacon and was one of 15 schools that participated in the pilot project for the standardization of source sorting in the Oslo School.
The school example
At Brynseng School in the east of Oslo, 220 pupils maintain strict control over waste sorting. Holding the title European Environmental Capital 2019 has given the entire Oslo School environmental status.
– The kids love it! Nina Gruer Rojano is administrative manager at Brynseng School and now walks through corridors with classrooms and changing rooms on either side. In each wing, there are a number of waste containers clearly marked for residual waste, paper, blue for plastic and green for food waste.
– The students here are very environmentally conscious, I must say. I have not experienced the husband! Rojano laughs and tells about the one time she unconsciously threw the tea bag into the waste. – I got a student fairly quickly trained in where the tea bag belonged: it should go in the food waste marked green.
Environmental goals
The municipality’s focus on waste reduction, source sorting and material recycling, has meant that today there are waste containers distributed among 181 schools in Oslo. Project manager Ane Evenstad tells us that the choice of containers, was made on the basis of the need that existed in the pilot schools, in addition to the fact that the interior managers also had their say.
The project manager also says that consideration has been given to ensure that it should be easy for the pupils to empty the containers in the teaching rooms, and that the cleaning staff should be able to carry out their tasks easily. It has also been absolutely essential that the waste system is holistic, where the containers are well marked with both symbols and colours, in addition to the bags having the same size and color as the system you have at home.
Environmental diploma of the month
Operational manager Jimmy Lundell says with satisfaction, that it’s about raising awareness among the students and that you don’t have to go very far to get what you need thrown away, whether it’s a banana peel or food paper. The common areas are taken care of by the cleaning staff, while the students themselves are responsible for cleaning and emptying the waste containers in the classrooms.
– We have over a hundred waste containers at the school and it looks the same on all four floors, he says and continues; they have introduced a separate environmental award at the school where diplomas are awarded to the class that has been the best at keeping order in the past month.
– So far, the first and second graders have won, adds administrative manager Rojano, as she moves a shoe that is lying in the middle of the floor in one of the changing rooms. But there is not a piece of paper or an apple core as far as the eye can see.
Green measures in 181 Oslo schools
- Standardized source sorting
- Introduced environmental management system Environmental Lighthouse
- Developed the teaching portal klimaskolen.no
- Four “climate pilots” have been sent out to schools to give lectures
- Has introduced bumblebee-friendly measures
- Develops green roofs at schools
- Focus on reducing food waste
- Works with composting
- The Norwegian Education Agency won the award for Oslo municipality’s greenest business in 2019