Term 2 Newsletter 2025

The team at WasteSorted Schools are here to support you and your schools in your efforts to reduce waste to landfill. We can offer advice and support across a range of areas including applying for accreditation, grant applications, setting up waste stations, school visits and waste audits. Please feel free to get in touch about any issues you are having, we are always here to help. 

wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au

Woodbridge Primary School have maintained their WasteSorted Schools accreditation for nine years. In 2023, they felt it was time to revamp their program.

They began by establishing a new sustainability committee, made up of two EA’s, two classroom teachers and the MCS.  The committee decided they needed a waste audit to get some baseline data on the waste that was being produced at school. Once they had their results, they held a whole school assembly to share their findings and the plan to improve sustainability at the school.

After identifying the waste streams that they were hoping to tackle, the team successfully applied for a WasteSorted Schools grant to purchase new, colour coded bins for all classrooms and outdoor areas. They now had separate bins for organics, recycling, Containers for Change and general waste. With these new bins in place, they encouraged students in Year 4 and 5 to apply for a position on the newly established Waste Wise Warriors team.

With the support of EA Chian Ghosh, who is given 1.5 hours each week in her timetable to manage sustainability matters, and the other members of the sustainability committee, the Waste Wise Warriors student team are now responsible for several jobs around the school.

• The Waste Management Monitors guide students at lunchtime to properly sort their rubbish into the right bins.
• The Waste Data Wizards promote, track and celebrate Waste Wise Wednesdays. They present the golden bin award to the winning class at assemblies.
• The Waste Compost Crew collect the organics bins from the eating areas twice a week. They tip the food waste out onto the lawn so they can remove any contamination and then place the fruit and vegetable waste in the compost bins. 
• The Waste Recycle Rangers are responsible for emptying, sorting and cleaning the Containers for Change collection bins every Friday.

In recognition of their hard work supporting the school, the Waste Wise Warrior team were rewarded with a special afternoon tea and certificates at the end of the year.

As well as implementing their waste avoidance and resource recovery projects, Woodbridge Primary School are also closing the loop on organic waste through their kitchen garden. EA, and member of the sustainability committee, Jean Muthukumaraswamy has one day a fortnight on her timetable allocated to work with students in the garden. Students come out at different times during the day to assist with planting, watering, mulching and harvesting. On this day Jean and a teacher, Belinda Condo, also run a lunchtime cooking class called the Grub Hub. They use herbs and vegetables from the kitchen garden to create new recipes each fortnight.

Overall, the members of the sustainability committee at Woodbridge Primary School are very pleased with how their projects are going. Although they have faced challenges, they feel that having the support of staff and positive parents in their school community is making it possible for them to continue with their wonderful waste and sustainability projects.

Round 2: Opens 2 June and closes 5 August.

WasteSorted Schools grants provide funding for schools to set up infrastructure and initiatives that avoid and recover school waste. Grants of up to $5,500 are available and all accredited WasteSorted Schools are eligible to apply.

Please contact one of our team to chat about your project before you start the application. We would be happy to support you with project ideas and tips on the grant application process.

High Schools – Hannah Lalor, Hannah.Lalor@dwer.wa.gov.au 

Primary Schools – Kate MacRae, Kate.MacRae@dwer.wa.gov.au

Regional schools – Megan Mentz, Megan.Mentz@dwer.wa.gov.au

Please see the website for more information on how to apply.

WasteSorted Schools and Clean Schools beginner workshop

Date: Tuesday 20 May

Time: 9am – 3pm

Venue: Ellen Stirling Primary School, Ellenbrook

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools and Keep Australia Beautiful Council to learn how to avoid and recover waste, and protect our environment, through litter prevention and waste reduction.

Find more information and register here: WasteSorted Schools & Clean Schools workshop - Ellen Stirling Primary School

WasteSorted Schools organics workshop

Date: Monday 26 May

Time: 9.30am – 3pm

Venue: Melville Eco Hub, Winthrop

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools and Robyn Brown from Waste is my Resource for a full day of talk on organic recycling and edible food gardening.

Find more information and register here: WasteSorted Schools organics workshop

WasteSorted Schools plastics workshop

Date: Tuesday 10 June

Time: 9am – 3pm

Venue: The Wetlands Centre, Bibra Lake

Join us for a full day of talk about plastics and prepare your school for Plastic Free Term 3. Explore activities aimed at avoiding single-use plastic including hands-on and classroom style activities.

Find more information and register here: WasteSorted Schools plastics workshop - Cockburn

WasteSorted Schools plastics and organics workshop – Geraldton

Date: Thursday 22 May

Time: 9am – 2.45pm

Venue: Beachlands Primary School

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools and get inspired to avoid and divert your plastic and organic waste in school settings.

Find more information and register here: WasteSorted Schools plastics & organics workshop - Geraldton

WasteSorted Schools after school plastics and organics workshop – Newman

Date: Thursday 19 June

Time: 3.15 – 5pm

Venue: Newman House, 15 Iron Ore Parade, Newman

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools to learn how our program and resources can support you to reduce waste in school settings.

Find more information and register here: WasteSorted Schools - After school Newman workshop

Food waste curriculum

Check out our updated WasteSorted Schools Food Waste curriculum guide. This Year 5 cross-curricular unit is aligned to the WA curriculum and contains lessons for HASS, Maths, English and Science. These lessons can be taught independently or together as a complete unit of work. Using an inquiry-based and integrated approach to learning, students explore the issues of food waste at home and at school.

Closing the Loop on organic waste board game

The Closing the Loop on organic waste board game visually explores the circular economy process of closing the loop on unavoidable food waste and is suitable for early to middle primary school students.

This game is intended to be played in small groups and teachers can print off the following three assets for this game: A3 game board; a set of 18 game cards and the instructions guide and answer key.

WasteSorted Awards

Nominations are now open for the WasteSorted Awards and will close at 5pm on Monday 26 May 2025.

The WasteSorted Awards – Schools Award recognises school communities that go that extra mile to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill in WA.  

If your school is leading the way in championing waste reduction, we encourage you to submit your nomination.  The nomination kit, including criteria and NEW online entry form, can be found here. https://www.wasteauthority.wa.gov.au/about/view/wastesorted-awards  

Winners will be announced at a gala dinner award ceremony on 11 September 2025 as part of the annual Waste and Resource Recovery Conference. 

Enquiries: wastesortedawards@eventandconferenceco.com.au  

Keep Australia Beautiful WA Community Litter Grants

The KABCWA community litter grants are now open! Grants of up to $10,000 are available for community organisations (including schools) to support projects that help reduce litter and change littering behaviour across WA.

To talk about an idea or any assistance with your grant application contact: grants@kabc.wa.gov.au 

Applications close 10am on Tuesday, 20 May 2025.

International Compost Awareness Week

This year International Compost Awareness Week will be held from 4 - 10 May. The goal of ICAW is to raise public awareness on why we all should be composting our organics and using compost to create healthier soil. It’s a great opportunity to use this internationally celebrated event to kick start your own earth-cycling initiative at school, using the WasteSorted Schools Compost curriculum guide to help you incorporate compost into your classroom learning.  

World Environment Day

World Environment Day, happening on 5 June, is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach. It is celebrated by millions of people across the world. This year it calls for collective action to tackle plastic pollution.

For ideas on how to engage your students with this global event, use our Plastic Free July curriculum guide. This guide contains lessons and activities to engage students in primary school and high school in learning about single use plastic.

Start planning for Plastic Free Term 3

From its beginnings right here in WA, Plastic Free July has grown to become a global sustainability movement. With their Plastic Free Schools Challenge, you can now inspire your school to make a difference with solutions to single-use plastic all year round. 

A great way to involve your school community is by hosting a waste-free lunch event. With resources for school and home, our Waste-free lunch toolkit will help to educate and inspire your school community to avoid and recover waste.

Waste Audit

Conducting a waste audit is a necessary step to becoming an accredited WasteSorted School. This fun and informative incursion helps you find out the types and amount of waste your school produces. The data collected can be used to prioritise and improve existing waste projects.

WasteSorted Race

Are your students struggling with the correct waste sorting behaviours? Or have you introduced a new bin system at your school like paper recycling or food organics? Book our WasteSorted Race incursion to help students learn the importance of source separation.

Paper Making Kit

If you are looking for a hands-on way to educate your students about the recycling process, why not borrow our paper making kit? This kit contains all the equipment needed for you and your students to turn old, scrap paper into new, usable paper.

To organise a booking in the metro area, please contact us at wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au

Ecobatt, known for its innovative approach to battery disposal, has created a safe and effective collection and recycling initiative for schools in Western Australia. This free service includes:

• a collection drum for collecting used household batteries and mobile phones
• transport and processing of the collected batteries.

Ecobatt's smart battery drums come equipped with the latest technology, including GPS tracking, 24/7 heat detection, and sensors that monitor fill levels. This means you can have peace of mind while requiring little to no handling from school staff. When the drum reaches 75 per cent capacity, their team will receive a notification from the unit and arrange a free pick-up.

If you would like to set up a battery collection program at your school, simply complete the online forms by clicking on the link below and Ecobatt will reach out to assist you in getting it set up.

https://www.ecobatt.com.au/new-customer-account/

Help Containers for Change improve and score a C4C Online store voucher!

Containers for Change is offering $200 worth of C4C resources of your choice from their online store. To be eligible, simply complete a short survey about any challenges your school faces when collecting 10c containers.

Once your response is in, they’ll be in touch to help you choose the resources that best support your school’s container collection efforts.

It’s a great chance to share your feedback, get support, and grow your impact! https://forms.office.com/r/B4DwH2qYcG

Little Green Steps WA has created an Early Childhood Sustainability Directory. This directory has been developed as part of a partnership between LGSWA and the City of Cockburn to provide early childhood professionals with information about organisations that can support their services to reduce their ecological footprint and increase their social handprint. This support may be incursions, excursions, professional development, advice, or provision of educational and other resources.

Start your school worm farm with a free fridge available from North Metro TAFE!

• different sizes available
• will need to be degassed by a professional 
• see the WSS How to make a fridge worm farm fact sheet  for tips on how to turn your degassed fridge into a worm farm.

Contact Gareth.MacRae@nmtafe.wa.edu.au to arrange pick up.

City of Kwinana

City of Kwinana are offering students the opportunity to discover the journey behind designing sustainable games with Jake Bamford creator of Frodge and Bin Off! Learn how to save the planet while having fun with friends!

 This includes:

• Introduction and core game design concepts
• Play games for research
• Linking our ‘research’ back to our games
• Building and play testing prototypes

The club will meet weekly:

• Tuesday 6 May 4-5:30pm
• Tuesday 13 May 4-5:30pm
• Tuesday 20 May 4-5:30pm
• Tuesday 27 May 4-5:30pm

Snacks provided. This program is suitable for 8 to 12 year olds.

The registration link for the program with Jake, ‘Gaming for Good’ is: https://gamesclub.eventbrite.com.au

Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale 

The Shire teamed up with the Keep Australia Beautiful Council to run a bin sticker competition amongst local schools and homeschools. There were 40 entries across four schools and homeschools!

How it worked?

1. Between the 3rd and 17th of March, students created bin sticker designs which related to littering.

2. These designs were then collected and reviewed by the Shires waste team.

3. Five designs were chosen as winners, and those winners will each receive a $50 voucher.

4. The winning designs will then be made into bin stickers and put onto select bins for the community to enjoy.

Congratulations to the winners. Please see their artwork attached. 

Why are recycling bins so optimistic? — Because they’re full of cans.