Prep School discovers the power of recycling

Last year, the Prep School prefect team established a college-wide paper recycling scheme as part of Wellington’s ongoing efforts to help everyone in our community lead more sustainable, environmentally-friendly lives. As our Prep School Head Girl and Boy Seren and Alex will explain, the ongoing project has enjoyed great success over the past year, to the point where we have opened it up to the Pre-Prep School and we also hope to get the Senior School involved in the near future. To further their understanding of the importance of paper recycling and mark the progress of the project so far, recently the current prefect team joined prefects from last year in visiting the APP (Asia Pulp Paper) factory. Over to Seren and Alex!   Making a daily difference On Tuesday 26th March, the prefect teams of 2017-19 visited a paper factory called APP in Suzhou. In March 2018, the Prep School prefects decided that they wanted to make a significantly positive environmental impact on the College, which resulted in the creation of a paper recycling scheme working alongside Shanghai-based company Green Initiatives. Over the past year, we have recycled more than 1000kg of paper. During our trip, we discovered that in terms of real-world impact, this means that we have saved the equivalent of:

• 58,000 litres of water
• 3,100 litres of oil
• 5m² of landfill space
• 4 megawatts of energy
• 8 metric tons of CO2 emissions

This just goes to show how even small, everyday acts of consideration for the environment really add up into something significant.   Exploring the APP Factory The APP trip itself was an eye-opening experience and allowed all the prefects to connect what we have been doing at Wellington to the end result of saving paper, trees and the environment itself. On our guided tour of the factory, we were able to see first-hand the process of the production of recycled paper, from the pulping to the packaging of the end product. While visiting PM1 (Paper Machine 1), the packaging process line, and the paper museum facility, we learned about the history (both ancient and modern) of paper production, the evolving methods of its manufacture and the ways in which the industry tries to remain as sustainable as possible. We even experienced a hands-on workshop that allowed us to recreate the ancient ways of producing paper. While it was fun and interesting, these handmade methods took a lot longer than modern machinery can manage the job. In fact, during normal operations, the APP factory can produce around 80,000 A4 sheets-worth of paper every second!   Environmental conservation starts with us It was very interesting to take this journey through the whole process involved in recycling paper. The trip strengthened the bond between all prefects, while educating us on what exactly happens with the paper we recycle daily and how this affects the environment. Now we are able to share this information and knowledge throughout the school, to promote a better understanding of the paper recycling project. It was an exciting learning experience and we look forward to seeing how this essential ecological effort will grow as more pupils, parents and teachers get stuck in.   Seren and Alex Year 8