Students examine Dacorum Borough Council's eco credentials (From Watford Observer)

Students examine Dacorum Borough Council's eco credentials

9:13am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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The borough council has enlisted the help of schoolchildren across Hertfordshire in a bid to meet sustainability goals.

Dacorum Borough Council has signed up to the “10:10 initiative”, a national campaign to encourage organisations and individuals to reduce their carbon emissions by ten per cent throughout 2010.

In order to establish baseline figures for the council to improve on, pupils from John F Kennedy and Abbot’s Hill schools visited the Hemel Hempstead Civic Centre on Friday, March 12, to carry out a surprise environmental audit.

About 15 students aged from 12 to 15, toured the building, examining the contents of office and recycling bins.

They found that council employees were fairly good at recycling plastic and paper, but much of the paper in the recycling bins had only been used on one side.

While most computers were switched off when left unattended, the pupils were surprised to see how many computers there were in the Civic Centre.

Hannah, a pupil at Abbot’s Hill School, Bunkers Lane, said: "I’d give the council eight out of ten for eco-friendliness. They are trying very hard and with a little push they could be really good."

Their findings will be collated into a report and the council will incorporate suggestions into its work to lower emissions and improve its use of resources.

Councillor Bert Chapman said: "It's great to see that young people of Dacorum are so enthusiastic about protecting the environment.

“After their visit, we're now better equipped to make changes to the way we work in order to meet the goal of lowering our carbon emissions by ten per cent over the next year."