How to use this template
- A letter from pupils (or a class, or a parent group) to the head teacher, principal, canteen manager or catering company, asking for specific, doable changes. Fill in the blanks, delete what does not apply, keep it to one page, and attach your audit numbers if you have them. Polite, specific, and with an offer to help works far better than a list of complaints.
- Made and funded by No Plastic Today. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
Letter
Dear [Name of head teacher / principal / canteen manager],
We are [Class / Year group / the pupil council] at [School name]. We are writing to ask for your help in reducing the single-use plastic used in our school, and to offer ours.
Over [one week / five school days] in [month], we counted the single-use plastic in [our lunchboxes / the canteen at one sitting / the classroom bins]. We counted [number] items, which is about [number] grams a week, or roughly [number] kilograms a year for [our class / our year group]. The three biggest items by weight were [item 1], [item 2] and [item 3]. (Our full count is attached.)
We have learned that only about 9% of the world's plastic waste was recycled in 2019, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (oecd.org/en/about/news/press-releases/2022/06/global-plastic-waste-set-to-almost-triple-by-2060.html). So recycling more, on its own, will not solve it; the plastic we never use is the plastic we can be sure about. We have also learned that more than 1,000 rivers, mostly small ones running through towns, carry 80% of the plastic that reaches the sea from rivers (Meijer and others, Science Advances, 2021: doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5803), so what happens in [our town] matters.
We would like to ask for [choose two or three]:
- Free drinking water and a place to refill bottles that every pupil can reach at break and lunch, so that nobody needs to buy a bottled drink at school.
- Reusable cups, plates and cutlery in the canteen, or at least a "bring your own cup" option with a small discount.
- An end to [cling-film-wrapped sandwiches / single-portion sauce sachets / plastic cutlery / disposable cups at events / balloons at school fairs], replaced by [reusable containers / dispensers / metal cutlery / jugs and cups / paper bunting].
- A "no single-use" rule for school events and trips, with a shared kit of reusable items that any class can borrow.
- A line in the school's purchasing policy that prefers reusable and refillable options, and asks suppliers to take back packaging.
- Permission for our class to run a five-day count each term and publish the result to the school.
We know changes cost time and sometimes money. We can help by [running the count each term / designing posters / writing to the supplier / running a refill-station rota / presenting our results in assembly]. Many schools have done this already through programmes such as Plastic Free Schools (Surfers Against Sewage) and Plastic Clever Schools (Kids Against Plastic and Common Seas), and we would be happy to help the school sign up.
Could we meet for ten minutes to talk about which of these could start this term? We would be glad to bring our numbers.
Thank you for reading this and for everything the school already does.
Yours sincerely,
[Names]<br>[Class / Year group]<br>[Date]
Version for a catering company (replace the "asks" paragraph)
- We would like to ask whether your contract with the school could include: (1) reusable or bring-your-own cup options with a small discount; (2) dispensers instead of sachets for sauces and condiments; (3) fresh fruit and snacks sold loose or in paper; (4) no single-use plastic cutlery or plates; and (5) a note in your next report to the school of how many single-use items you have removed. We would be happy to share our audit numbers and to count again after any change so that you can show the difference.
Tips
- Attach the numbers. A letter with "we counted 412 items in a week" gets a meeting; a letter with "there is too much plastic" gets a polite reply.
- Ask for two or three things, not ten. Ask for the easiest first (water refills) so there is an early win.
- Offer to do some of the work. It is the difference between a complaint and a partnership.
- Follow up after two weeks if you have not heard back. Ask for a date.