Sustainability - A Lesson from Tanzania

The Edmund Rice Sinon Secondary School in the city of Arusha, Northern Tanzania, is doing a great deal to preserve energy, water and raw materials.

Headteacher Frank O'Shea, along with his staff and pupils, works hard to ensure nothing is wasted. Water used in the school's shower and laundry block is pumped onto the playing field, whilst washing-up water is used to create a pond and swamp for science lessons.

The school's herd of 15 cows not only provides milk but also slurry which, along with what's deposited in a toilet block, is channeled into a large underground chamber where methane, or biogas, is collected and pumped to the school's three kitchens.

Sawdust from the carpentry workshop fuels another stove, used to prepare breakfast, and even termite mounds are mixed with cement to build new classrooms.