Schools Corner
NEW! St. Andrew's Anglican College (SAAC), Peregian Springs, has just completed a week-long Rubbish Free Lunch Stars contest across the primary section, coinciding with the school's Health and Fitness Week (27 Oct - 2 Nov 08).
Initiated by the Fit Foodies parents group and the Sports Department, with support from Council, NICA and local businesses, the contest has achieved some great results. 206 students succeeded in producing NO packaging waste at all from their lunches over the five days. On one day, 335 out of the 468 students went rubbish-free. Overall, 1,536 rubbish free lunches (out of 2,340) were consumed in the week, avoiding some 4,600 pieces of rubbish. See photo below of a few of the rubbish-free superstars and their beautiful, healthy and rubbish free lunches (photo courtesy of SAAC)!
"The litter free lunch boxes were incredible ... the positive environmental impact is clear and the messages that we are conveying to our children is wonderful." Steve Robson, Sports Department SAAC.
Tewantin State Primary School is committed to the Five Steps towards Waste Wise. One class teacher has regularly encouraged children to use only reusable containers for their morning tea and lunches. This class aims to become a totally “Rubbish Free Lunch Class” by the end of 2008.
With support from the local Council and NICA, the school launched their school-wide recycling program on 19 May 2008. In just a few weeks, cleaners have reported a drop in the amount of waste to landfill from the weekly 33 wheelie bins to just 21 — a whopping 36 % reduction!
This photo by teacher Terri Anne Harris shows students eagerly emptying their pre-sorted recyclables and non-compostable food waste respectively into the General and Yellow wheelie bins.
For the full story, check out their May / June and September 2008 newsletter articles "Waste Not Want Not", "New Waste System Working!"and Litter Free Lunch Week.
Noosa Pengari Steiner School, Doonan, takes a holistic sustainability approach incorporating building design, site planning, water, energy and waste (even composting toilets) management. They are currently working on a Sustainable Environment Management Plan. The Plan will document the achievements of the school which aims to be a leader in environment and sustainability practises in SE Queensland.
Noosa District State High School, Cooroy, recycles all its paper waste through the Endeavour Foundation which benefits people with disability. The Support Services Department of the school plans to collect its food waste for composting. The compost will feed an eventual permaculture garden in the school ground.
Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Noosaville, has a group of environmentally concerned Yr 11 students. In 2008, they painted several of their stormwater drains with stencils saying “no waste to the river”, alerting fellow students of the importance of stormwater protection (Photo below by teacher Sharyn Doman). Moreover, teachers of year 2 teach kids about over-packaging and waste every term 2, as part of the curriculum. Currently (term 4, 2008), Rubbish free lunches are being promoted across the primary section, showing a lot of positive results.
St. Teresa's Catholic College Noosa has a well articulated Environment Policy, regularly enters the Green and Healthy School competition, and is considering launching a school-wide recycling program.
Gympie East State School has lots of great and fun waste management activities and teams, notably the SKRAP Busters and Can Crushers!
Maroochy Catchment Centre, as the Sunshine Coast Hub for QESSI (Qld Environmentally Sustainable School Initiative), provides links to participating schools, highlighting their efforts towards environmental sustainability, notably waste reduction and water wise.
Zero Waste South Australia’s WOW — Wipe Out Waste Program gives inspiring case studies from their WOW-supporting schools.
Education Victoria has Rubbish Free Lunch Challenge case studies from primary and secondary schools
CERES Sustainable Schools Projects in Victoria showcase school projects in the area of energy, water, waste, community, biodiversity and others.
