Welcome back to Term 3!

Celebrating success at Somerly Primary School

2024 has already been a big year for Somerly Primary School (SPS). One of their many new projects has been trialling a new Sustainability Operational Plan. As part of their whole school approach, each year level was assigned tasks such as shredding paper, cleaning bins, counting containers, and caring for the worm farm and garden. Additionally, two students from each class nominated to be Waste Warriors and were presented with their new Warrior bibs.

Term 1 saw SPS introduce Food Organic (FO) bins outside during eating breaks. This has increased their food waste recovery from one 220L compost bin per term, to three in the first term of 2024. To support their compost system, they established a shredding station to provide used, shredded paper as carbon to the compost bins. This initiative has stopped 156kg of paper going to landfill so far.

Not to miss out on any of the fun, the Early Childhood Education students have been getting to grips with worms this year. These little learners were fully involved in the set up and ongoing maintenance of their new worm farm. They have designed the logos and created a name for the worm fertiliser, which will soon be on sale at school assemblies.

To put all that wonderful compost being created to good use, SPS have further developed their edible gardens. They have established a new partnership with external provider, Food Ladder, who educate children on how to sustainably produce, prepare and preserve crops.

Captain Recycle has also been hard at work helping to educate students about reducing, reusing and recycling, with the slogan ‘Save our planet to save our future’.

If that wasn’t enough, the teachers at SPS have also begun to integrate sustainability education across the school, with classes trialling literacy lessons focusing on avoiding single-use plastics and how to correctly recycle waste. There are plans to integrate lessons into Design and Technologies and Health to further educate students about sustainable practices in the garden.

It’s not just their staff and students that have been doing amazing things, the SPS school community have been kicking goals and breaking targets as they have now stopped over 120,000 containers from going into landfill in just two and a half years. Containers for Change were so impressed by their collection numbers that their media team came out to do a short documentary on the school’s processes.

As with all WasteSorted Schools, Somerly Primary School’s journey is always evolving but, with a committed sustainability sub-committee within their P&C, and a large committee of eager teachers and EA’s who support their sustainability journey, their incredible efforts will continue long into the future.

To find out more about the exciting things happening at Somerly Primary School, join us for a tour of the school on Tuesday 20 August at our WasteSorted Schools and Clean Schools workshop.

Register: WasteSorted Schools & Clean Schools workshop - Somerly Primary School | Humanitix

Term 3 Workshops

WasteSorted Schools Student Meet

Date: 6 Aug 2024

Time: 12–3pm

Venue: Emmanuel Catholic College, Success

Join us at our annual Student Meet at Emmanuel Catholic College. This event is for secondary school students and staff who want to work together to drive change in waste and sustainability at their school.

Register: https://events.humanitix.com/student-meet-2024

WasteSorted Schools and Clean Schools workshop

Date: 20 August 2024

Time: 9am–3pm

Venue: Somerly Primary School, Clarkson

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools and Clean Schools to learn how to avoid and recover waste, and protect our environment, through litter prevention and waste reduction. This workshop will include a presentation and a tour of host school, Somerly Primary School, to see their waste initiatives in action.

Register: WasteSorted Schools & Clean Schools workshop - Somerly Primary School | Humanitix

WasteSorted Schools Organics workshop

Date: 10 September 2024

Time: 9.30am–3pm

Venue: Hillcrest Primary School, Bayswater

* There is no parking at Hillcrest PS. Parking is available at Hillcrest Reserve (5-minute walk from Hillcrest PS).

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools and Robyn Brown from Waste is my Resource for a day all about organics recycling and edible food gardening.

Register: WasteSorted Schools organics workshop | Humanitix

WasteSorted Schools Teach Meet

Date: 17 September 2024

Time: 3.45pm–6.30pm

Venue: Bendat Parent and Community Centre, Wembley

Hear from primary- and secondary-accredited WasteSorted Schools about successful waste avoidance and resource recovery initiatives they have implemented at their school. They will share ideas and experiences about how they have created a successful program including setting up, maintenance, engaging students, and the wider school community.

Register: Teach Meet: waste and sustainability in primary and secondary schools | Humanitix

Regional Workshops

WasteSorted Schools Regional Teach Meet

Date: 22 August 2024

Time: 3.45pm–6.30pm

Venue: City of Bunbury

Join WasteSorted Schools and City of Bunbury at our regional Teach Meet event. Hear from regional primary and secondary teachers about successful waste management practices implemented at their school.

Presentations will be shared to both online and face to face attendees from across WA.

Register: Regional Teach Meet Hybrid event co-hosted with City of Bunbury: waste and sustainability in primary and secondary schools | Humanitix

WasteSorted Schools grants 2024

2024 Grant round two open now

Round 2: closing 4pm Tuesday 6 August 2024

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 (inc. GST) are available and all currently accredited WasteSorted Schools are eligible to apply.

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

WasteSorted Schools grants | Waste Authority WA

Plastic Free Term 3

This Plastic Free July, inspire your school to make a difference with solutions to single-use plastic. School staff, students, and parents can all be involved in the global Plastic Free Schools Challenge in a fun and engaging way. This free initiative supports schools with useful resources, activities, stories and ideas. 

 

You can also download the WasteSorted Schools Plastic Free July curriculum guide and Waste-free Lunch Toolkit for ideas on how to avoid single-use plastics at school.

Keep Australia Beautiful Week

This year KAB Week 2024 (5–11 August) is going back to their roots and focusing on the fight toward litter prevention and biodiversity preservation. During the week, they are challenging members of the community, councils, schools, and workplaces to initiate clean-ups or planting days.

Some suggestions on how to get involved are:

Initiate a Clean-up Day around your local area, school or workplace

Check out KABWA Week events and get involved

Visit your local Council website

Start a fundraiser at your school and donate to Keep Australia Beautiful

Join in with a Landcare Week event and assist with regenerating your local area.

KABWeek 2024 - Keep Australia Beautiful

National Science Week

National Science Week is on from 10–18 August. This year’s theme is Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability. Make real world connections for your students by examining the diversity of life in the ecosystem of your compost cone or worm farm. For more ideas and activities check out the Teacher Resource Book or the WasteSorted Schools Compost or Worms curriculum guides.

Schools Recycle Right challenge 2024

Schools Recycle Right Challenge runs from 7 October to 17 November 2024 and offers a wide range of recycling themed activities, lesson plans and events ideas that have been developed specifically for Australian schools. Their lesson plans cover topics such as Australian recycling labels, material upcycling, plastic recycling using enzymes and reducing food waste.

Get Involved at School - Planet Ark Recycling Near You

Incursions

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 FOGO? 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 student about the recycling process, why not borrow our paper making kit? This kit contains all the equipment needed for you and your students to participate in the process of turning old, scrap paper into new, usable paper.

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

What do you call a recycling bin that’s always dancing?

A can can!

For more information about the items in this newsletter or for any questions about the WasteSorted Schools Program, please contact us at wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au.