Kilcoole Kids Leading The Eco Battle

Those clever, climate-loving kids over at Colaiste Chraobh Abhann have taken to their new water filling station like, well, a duck to water.

With St Mary’s in Arklow and Colaiste Bhride in Carnew also boasting such plastic-battering fountains, the Kilcoole school has come out on top for student use.

Over the first six months since installation at CCA, the mains-fed water filling station has been used a staggering 48,625 times.

It’s no wonder, says the school’s deputy principal, Ruairi Farrell, that the school’s student leaders are working towards acquiring another. “The students are really passionate about it,” he states. “They’re even talking about putting a reusable water bottle on the book list for next year.”

Given that the school has 750 students, it’s unsurprising that most mornings sees a traffic jam at the fountain. 

Funded by the Environment Protection Agency under the National Waste Prevention Programme, the aim of the project is to drastically reduce single-use plastics in the country’s secondary schools. Whereas refillable bottles and beakers are commonplace in primary schools, there’s a flip of those statistics in secondary schools, where 80% of students buy a drink. A survey by Wicklow County Council revealed that 50% of secondary school students own a reusable bottle but less than half actually use them.

The survey also revealed a growing awareness among students of the cost, health and environment benefits of drinking refill water.