ryde school and wyatt and jack bags with 'green people' cropped

Sixth formers collaborate with Wyatt and Jack to avoid school banners going to landfill

We love hearing about Isle of Wight collaborations that seek to improve the world we live in.

One latest initiative we recently learnt about was between Ryde School’s ‘Green People’ environmental group and Wyatt and Jack – the Isle of Wight-based company that creates sustainable bags and accessories from unwanted materials such as former deck chairs, bouncy castles and inflatables.

Banners into bags
A short while back, Wyatt and Jack added banners to the list of items they could accept and turn into bags rather than the items go to landfill (hurrah for them!).

Ryde School Sixth Formers, Maddie and Ollie from ‘Green People’, identified that the school has many banners created for various events each year and decided to get in touch with Georgia from Wyatt & Jack to see whether she’d be happy to turn the banners into bags.

As you can see from the photo below, the collaboration was successful and the results excellent!

 (Miss Ball), Miss Drabble, Dr Speller, Matt, Ollie and Pip
Miss Ball, Miss Drabble, Dr Speller, Matt, Ollie and Pip

One of many green projects
Re-purposing of unwanted banners is just one of many environmental projects the ‘Green People’ have spearheaded.

They’ve also been responsible for the school-wide reduction of single-use plastic. Miss Ball (pictured above) explained to OnTheWight that reusable stainless steel water bottles are now used throughout the school, replacing plastic bottles.

Thanks to the efforts of the ‘Green People’ the school dining hall also now has meat-free Mondays and Maddie is a leading light in the school’s gardening club.

Circular economy and beach cleans
The group recently led a sustainability week – which included a talk on the Circular Economy from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and pupils take part in Surfers Against Sewage beach cleans.

All of those involved in the ‘Green People’ project are certainly doing what they can to raise awareness for environmental issues and the steps they’re taking can only been seen as positive. Well done to you all!

Check out the collections
To find out more about Wyatt&Jack’s products check out their Website or pop along to the Flagship Store (which doubles up as an Inflatable Amnesty Collection Point) at
8 Union Street, Ryde.

The store is open Thursday and Fridays between 12pm-3pm and Saturdays 11-3pm.

Thanks to Isle of Wight designer Shaun Cuff for the heads-up. As well as working with Ryde School and Wyatt & Jack, Shaun also designed OnTheWight’s identity in 2012.