Drawn from Scripture and the teachings of popes and other church leaders and thinkers, Catholic Social Teaching offers insights and guidelines to living the Gospel in today’s world. Genesis 2:15, for example, calls us to both cultivate and to take care of the Earth, and in Laudato si’ and Laudate Deum Pope Francis emphasises the importance of protecting “our common home”.

Last year Francis urged a group of religious leaders from Manchester visiting the Vatican to work together to “overcome the ‘throwaway’ culture of waste generated by present-day consumerism and by a globalised indifference that inhibits efforts to address human and social problems in the light of the common good”. A growing number of Catholic schools and multi-academy trusts are discovering that by working together and with their contractors for catering and other services they are able to challenge the throwaway culture.