Hale Nursery Becomes First in Region to Achieve Plastic Free Status

Elmscot Hale Day Nursery & Nursery School has become the first setting in Trafford to achieve Plastic Free status through the Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) scheme.

SAS is a UK environmental charity that is dedicated to protect our environment, making it safer for wildlife and surrounding communities. The organisation runs a number of campaigns aimed at guiding individuals and businesses to start their Plastic Free journey.

Elmscot Hale has followed the Plastic Free Nursery objectives over a number of weeks and is committed to further expanding their efforts. The five objectives they successfully completed involved teaching the children about the problem of single-use plastic, gathering together for litter picking sessions and establishing where changes can be made to reduce the requirement for single-use plastic within the setting.

The nursery staff now uses washable tabards instead of single-use aprons at mealtimes and for nappy changing, single-use aprons have been replaced with PVC aprons that can be sanitised after each use. Fresh milk is now delivered from a local supplier in traditional glass bottles rather than plastic, which has made a huge impact on the amount of single-use plastic coming into the nursery. All food shopping is now delivered without carrier bags and the use of plastic gloves has been reduced and traditional methods reintroduced.

Stacey Thompson, Nursery Manager at Elmscot Hale Day Nursery and the person who has been leading this campaign within the nursery said: “This has been one of the most interesting projects we have been involved in and it’s made us see how much single-use plastic is being used in day-to-day life.

“A number of permanent changes have already been made, but we will now seek to further reduce our use of single-use plastic throughout the nursery.”

Elmscot Hale Day Nursery is part of Elmscot Group, which provides outstanding childcare and education to over 1,800 children across Cheshire.

To find out more about Elmscot Hale Day Nursery & Nursery School and to enquire about childcare places, please call 0161 980 7019 or email [email protected].