“We’ve got a major ecological problem, possibly a catastrophe looming on the horizon, and we prefer not to look up and see the problem for what it is.”
Priestley College, Warrington, has been facing problems with students littering in and around the campus. One of the campus learning centres, the Lewis Carroll building, was closed to students on five different occasions in October due to damage and littering.
Principal James Gresty said it wasn’t his decision to close the building, but was happy to support the decision made by college staff as he said: “It’s not fair for our cleaning staff, it’s not fair for our teaching staff, [and] our support staff.”
To prevent such measures in the future, Gresty advised that students should speak up when they see an act of littering. For behaviours to change, he said there needs to be: “Collective responsibility.”
Student Molly Howells claimed that it’s not fair to close the building: “Those of us who are here to study can’t study.” However, she agreed with the Principal that students need to call each other out when they witness someone littering.
Howells said that she constantly sees rubbish being left around: “Every day, in canteens and cafeterias, it’s everywhere.”
Philosophy and Religious Studies teacher Dr Bill Cooke recognises the severity of the littering problem: “We’ve got a major ecological problem, possibly a catastrophe looming on the horizon, and we prefer not to look up and see the problem for what it is. And litter is not the problem per se, but it’s a symptom of our wider problem, of the fact that we don’t care enough to do something about it.”
Daily, Cooke goes litter picking in and around the college and sees how much people litter out in the field. He thought last year was the worst he’d seen for littering, but claimed: “This year has been far worse.”
When people see Cooke litter picking, he said: “What people generally do is they say ‘Oh well done for what you’re doing, that’s marvellous,’ and then they walk off, thinking that the problem has been solved somehow.”
Cooke suggested that there needs to be a: “paradigm shift among the people who don’t drop it, to see it as their problem nonetheless.”
Priestley College has been taking positive steps to be more eco-friendly. Principal Gresty says that environmental issues are: “Higher up on the agenda.”
Most of the light bulbs in the college have been changed to LEDs, and a team of staff have been doing decarbonisation work through surveys looking at: “Where our [Priestley’s] energy is used, what time of day energy is used, what time of night energy is used, [and] the energy efficiency of certain buildings.”
At the start of the academic year, a new sustainability group has brought students and staff together to work on action-based ways that we can be more green. They have produced a roadmap for future plans that aim to provide sustainable food options, development of a fossil fuel divestment plan, reduction of waste on campus by 50-75%, among many other things.
Priestley wants to see change among people; Cooke says you can do your part by: “Rather than just walk past the litter and going, ‘Tut tut isn’t that awful?’ to actually pick it up.” To join Cooke and other litter pickers helping the community, find your closest group here: https://litternetworks.org/area/warrington
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