Louth school leads the way in national ‘Daily Swaps’ challenge

Students at Redeemer Girls National School in Dundalk have been recognised at a national level for their outstanding efforts in promoting sustainability, earning the Best Collaboration Award in this year’s Daily Swaps Challenge, a nationwide initiative from the Green-Schools programme, run by An Taisce. 

Redeemer Girls National School turned the campaign into a true whole-school effort, demonstrating how teamwork can inspire meaningful change and make sustainability a shared goal for everyone. 

Throughout the initiative, students worked together to create colourful posters, measured energy use around the school, and encouraged classmates to take part by bringing reusable water bottles each day. 

To ensure the entire school community was involved, the organising team presented the campaign at a whole-school assembly, delivered daily announcements to keep momentum going, and shared updates with families at home.

Students also worked with Digitally, software that simplifies stocktaking and reduces food waste to input daily data about food waste, helping them track the impact of their actions. 

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The Daily Swaps Challenge invited students across Ireland to take simple everyday actions—such as taking shorter showers, boiling only the water needed, or donating unused clothes—to reduce water and energy use. 

Taking place from 9–13 March, the challenge saw participation from schools in 18 counties, with students recording an impressive total of 22,923 daily swaps.  

The initiative reveals the close connection between water and energy use in everyday life. Heating water for showers, running washing machines, producing food and manufacturing clothing all require significant amounts of both resources.

For example, washing machines consume an average of 50 litres of water per cycle, while producing a single cotton T-shirt can require around 2,700 litres of water. By making small changes to everyday habits, we can help reduce pressure on ecosystems and lower environmental impacts. 

The Daily Swaps Challenge forms part of the Green-Schools Water Theme, supported by Uisce Éireann, which works with schools across Ireland to raise awareness about protecting water resources and promoting sustainable water use.  

Geoffrey Bourke, Head of Customer Operations at Uisce Éireann, a sponsor of the Green-Schools Water Programme, commented: “Daily Swaps shows how small, practical actions can make a real difference.

"By empowering students to lead sustainability campaigns in their schools and communities, we’re helping young people understand the connections between water, energy and the everyday choices we make.” 

Tori Rickman, Green-Schools Officer for the Water Theme, added: “Redeemer Girls National School’s Daily Swaps campaign is a fantastic example of how students can lead meaningful environmental action in a creative and engaging way.

"By running their own challenges, Green-Schools Committees build real skills in communication, teamwork and motivating others. It highlights that environmental action doesn’t have to be about giving things up—it can be about challenging ourselves and our peers to make small changes together in a way that’s fun and impactful.” 

For more information about the Green-Schools programme, visit www.greenschoolsireland.org.