When it comes to saving the planet, Claremont Independent School is definitely open for business. Building on the brilliant work of the Sussex school’s ‘Eco Warriors’ as they pursue Green Flag Status, prep pupils from Year 7 and 8 decided to launch The Claremont Eco Store to sell environmentally-friendly products directly to parents and friends.
Believed to be one of the first of its kind in a school, The Eco Store has gone from strength to strength since it opened its doors in November. From humble beginnings, and a modest stock list chosen and marketed by the children themselves to include eco-friendly shampoo, body wash and refillable bottles, the Eco Warriors have been able to reinvest in their ‘business’. Their expanded product range includes new eco lines in soap bars, washing-up liquid, reusable straws and face pads, ‘truthbrushes’, bamboo cotton buds, dental floss and top-selling toilet paper ‘Bumboo’.
The children also took the Eco Store to the Friends of Claremont Christmas Bazaar, to promote their cause and wares to the wider local community.
Sally Bunker, fellow Eco Warrior and mentor, said: “If just half of our parents used our refill shop that would be 170 households not buying single-use plastic bottles for shampoo, conditioner, body wash and washing-up liquid. That’s potentially 700 single-use plastic bottles we could reduce with immediate effect!”
With the help of charity onetreeplanted.org, the children decided that for every £10 in takings they would ‘plant a tree’.
Headteacher Mr Bunker said: “This project has been more than a learning experience, it has empowered the children to take positive action.”
