Q. What did you recycle?

A. We recycled paper, plastic, weeds and fruit.

Q. How did you recycle paper?

A. We recycled paper by making folders from the brown envelopes we got from the post.

We also collected paper from the post. We used the paper for artwork. We mulched the garden with catalogues, newspapers and cardboard.

Q. How did you recycle plastic bags?

A. We collected plastic supermarket bags. We stored them in a Clann Na nGael jersey and tracksuit, making a model. (People ask us why we used a Clann jersey. This is our local football club and they are the best!)

We give the bags to a local shopkeeper to reuse. Plastic is the worst pollutant; it does not break down. It blocks drains, rivers and ruins the countryside. So if we can think of a way to reuse plastic it is a good idea. To make plastic oil is used and it is non-renewable.

Q. How did you recycle plastic bottles?

A. We used them as water tanks for hanging bottles and window boxes and made them into mini- glasshouses to put over lettuce plants.

Q. How did you recycle weeds?

A. We put the weeds in the compost bin. It has no bottom so the worms can move up and down through the weeds and eventually turn them back into compost. We put the compost on the lettuce to feed it.

Q. How do you control litter?

A. We controlled litter by bringing a lunch box to school and bringing home our waste. We have had this as one of our school rules in the past few years and as a result we do not have a litter problem at the school.

Monsignor McCarthy NS, which is a bigger school than ours, adopted this rule too and drastically reduced their waste as a result.

Q. Cathal, would you like a job working for the environment when you grow up?

 A. Yes I’d like a job like Brian Duffy’s working in the environment section of the County Council. Then I’d get to talk to schools, households and communities about waste management. I’d put compost bins and bottles in every school and Community Centre and then there would be no "Super Dump" in Co. Roscommon. When there is a road being widened and trees knocked I’d plant the same trees so that habitats would not be lost. I’d also plant wild flowers along the roadside and maintain them.

Q. What would you like to be, Rachel, when you grow up?

 A. I’d like to be a T.D. like Denis Naughton. The first thing I’d do would be to get the Dáil to set up a committee to undertake an environmental review. The committee would draw up an action plan for waste management in the whole country. Industries, communities and schools would follow the plan and then we wouldn’t have a problem with litter, pollution, waste and landfills. The committee would probably set up a recycle centre for plastic.