Students battle it out in Dragons’ Den-style green technology challenge

Students from Buckinghamshire College Group won over the panel of judges, who were impressed by the carpentry and joinery students’ idea of buying a woodchipper to turn timber waste into wood shavings and wood chippings to be donated to local residents, farms, stables, landowners and animal charities to be used for things like household pets and agricultural animal bedding, mulch for soil conditioning, garden and landscaping projects. This would not only repurpose the waste, preventing it from being incinerated, but could also save the college approximately £32,000 per year that they would otherwise be spending on skips for disposing of the wood. Predictions show that the WoodWise project could reduce the colleges carbon emissions by over 80,000kg in the first year and over 125,000kg in the future.

If the scheme becomes a success and there is high demand for the chippings and shavings it could even become an income source for the college in the future.

Supported by Buckinghamshire Council in partnership with Bucks Skills Hub and local businesses, the event enabled Year 12 students from Aylesbury High School, Buckingham School, Buckinghamshire College Group, Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School, Waddesdon Church of England School and The Highcrest Academy to learn from professionals in the field of green technology and sustainable business practices – helping them to develop and display a range of green skills, employability, technical, creative and academic skills.

This year’s challenge kicked off in September 2024 with the help of Softcat Cyber Security, and saw each school paired up with a supporting business to mentor and help the students understand the challenge throughout the competition. The eco-conscious students were then tasked with creating and presenting their idea to help their school reduce their carbon footprint.

Team names and supporting businesses were:

• ThermoCast (Aylesbury High School) with Whiffaway (Winners of the Most Innovative Solution)
• BioBoost Collective (Buckingham School) with Construction Specialties (Winners of Best Branding and Social Media Presence)
• WoodWise (Buckinghamshire College Group) with Shellwin Real Estate (Overall winners and County Champions)
• ECLO (Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School) with Biffa (Finalists)
• Step Saver (Waddesdon Church of England School) with FCC Environment (Finalists)
• Miles (The Highcrest Academy) with Zenopa (Finalists)

Participating students were asked to sum up, in a sentence, the benefits of being part of the challenge. Responses included:

• “It was cool and interesting.”
• “I really enjoyed the fact that they taught us about their job”.”
• “Learning about the huge range of jobs within the company.”
• “I enjoyed working and discussing ideas with our mentors.”

Joseph Baum, Deputy Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services, was one of the ‘Dragons’ at the event and said:

“Congratulations to the overall winners Buckinghamshire College Group and thank you to all the schools and students who took part in the challenge. I also wish to say a special thank you to all of the local businesses whose partnership with us helped make this event a great success.

“Seeing how thoroughly engaged the students were and how passionate they all were about making a positive difference to the environment and to their schools was truly inspiring. We will continue to build on this initiative to continue to strengthen our communities and improve our environment as part of our #BucksClimateChallenge.”

Marina Jackson, Under 19s Skills Manager for Bucks Skills Hub said:

“This year has been the biggest challenge so far and I hope it continues to grow so that we can involve even more schools and local businesses in the future.

“The Green Schools Challenge not only helps encourage students to pursue green careers, but also helps them develop essential employability skills through collaborative and creative challenges. By fostering mutually beneficial relationships between schools and businesses, we hope to promote collaborative learning and lasting partnerships.”

The green technology challenge was the brainchild of Rachael Shimmin, Buckinghamshire Council’s CEO, after her visit in 2021 to see Lunaz’s innovative electric waste trucks. Rachael wanted to involve schoolchildren in thinking how green technology can help solve problems and originally spoke with Lunaz and DMC who wanted to get involved. The concept then turned into a competition aimed at Year 12 pupils.