Parents have claimed students are becoming sick at one of New Zealand's most environmentally-friendly schools due to a ban on soap and hand towels that has been in place for three years.

The NZ Herald has reported that parents have complained to the board of Stonefields School in East Auckland about their children's repeated gastro-intenstinal illnesses over what they claim was a lack of soap and hand driers.

The school has hand sanitiser available. But as part of its "environmental sustainability philosophy", the school has no paper towels.

A NZ Ministry of Education spokesman told the paper that schools were required to provide a cleaning agent and warm water so the potential spread of germs was kept to a minimum.

"It does not matter what kind of cleaning product is used,'' the spokesman said.