The members of the Environmental Policy and Agricultural Strategic Policy Committee of Mayo County Council this week heaped praise on Sharon Cameron, environmental awareness officer of Mayo County Council, for the work she has done in the past 10 years. Ms Cameron was at the meeting to give the members a presentation on the work that her office carries out throughout the county.
She informed the meeting about the involvement of her office with the Green Schools initiative which started off 10 years ago, and said now 137 schools in the county are involved in programme with 131 of those holding a green flag. Included in those schools was the Castlebar campus of GMIT, which last year became the first institute of technology in the country to attain green flag status. Ms Cameron told the members that each evening over the past four weeks her office has been hosting information evenings for schools, which have had huge attendances.
She also told the meeting about a number of different initiatives that her office has run throughout the county, including awareness campaigns on properly disposing of takeaway wrappers, cigarette butts, WEEE (electronic goods ) recycling events, and the newest drive to raise awareness of the amount of food that is wasted. She told the meeting that up to one third of fresh food that is purchased is thrown out, and she will be spearheading a new campaign to raise the public awareness of this issue in the county.
