Pupils at Queen Elizabeth II High School, Peel, are to perform a dance on the theme of plastic.

Thirty-three students will be dancing on Peel beach on Monday, May 14. from 4.15pm to 5.15pm. The public are welcome to watch.

The dance will be filmed, used in assemblies and uploaded on education platforms to highlight the problems of plastic waste.

The idea came from the school’s ecological committee.

In 2012, QEII and all schools on the Isle of Man signed up to the government’s 2022 waste strategy. The vision for waste management on the Isle of Man is ’Towards Zero Waste’.

Pupils Amy Anderson and Rachel Smith from the school’s ecological committee explain the situation at QEII now.

They write: ’Earlier this year the Department of Infrastructure supplied us with plastic bottle recycling bins, which we have placed around the school and are being used by all of the students.

’For the past eight weeks we have been collecting plastic water bottles in our new bins. We are collecting an average of 1,200 bottles per week but they are piling up in a shed due to the school having no collection facility in place.

’There is a collection facility, that the school has not yet signed up to, that would charge £25 per pick up, which would be necessary twice per week.

’The school already pays for collection of general waste but, over the course of a year, this would add more than £1,500 to our waste collection costs. Although we are making this effort, we are being held back by the cost for recycling collection.

’In theory, we are as a school could be reducing our general waste by collecting plastic separately. This should reduce the general waste collection costs and it is hoped that this can be used to offset the cost of recycling.

’We have been looking into purchasing a new water fountain to reduce our need for plastic water bottles. However, we have been unsuccessful due to hygiene and health and safety reasons.

’Throughout the school, we have made other efforts to reduce our use of plastic. This includes changing from plastic to metal cutlery and from one-use polystyrene plates to reusable plastic ones and paper plates.

’We were thinking of purchasing more plastic recycling bins for the school fields and astro-pitch.

’However, are we wasting our time and effort by collecting bottles that are not economically recyclable for the island community? Is it more economical to collect our plastic or even import plastic as a source of revenue to provide energy through the general waste incinerator or send off plastic to be recycled into other products? Would it make some sense to follow suggested proposals in the UK for paying a bottle charge?

’As a part of our syllabi in a variety of subjects, such as science and geography, we are taught the importance of "the three Rs" - reducing, reusing and recycling - so this sends a contradictory message to us as students and also the wider community.’