This issue we celebrate the winner(s) of the school category in the WasteSorted Awards past and present, share some inspiration from schools, grants, new resources, and Term 3 workshops!
New Resources
New Waste Audit Toolkit
The updated Waste Audit toolkit is now live on our website. Check out the influencers section for some fresh waste reduction inspiration.
New case study videos
We are excited to share case study videos from Beeliar Primary School, winners of the 2022 WasteSorted Award in the school category, and Augusta Primary School, who were the 2020 winners. Thank you to both schools for sharing their videos.
School Inspiration
Hillcrest Primary School
In 2017, all waste from Hillcrest Primary School was going to landfill. With the introduction of kerbside recycling and compost bins, they cut waste going into landfill from 4.5 cubic meters a week to 2.22 cubic meters a week. This saved 117 tonnes of waste going to landfill each year.
With the introduction of FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics) bins and CDS (Container Deposit Scheme) bins in 2021, they increased education to ensure they correctly separated all waste streams and were amazed at the result. In 2022, the head cleaner advised that he is confident they can stop a further 1.5 cubic meters of waste a fortnight from going to landfill a fortnight. This is a further saving of $600 a year on waste removal costs.
In 2017, they were spending the equivalent of $76.67 a week on 4.5 cubic metres of landfill waste removal. From Term 2, 2022, they will spend $14.05 a week for 1.5 cubic metres of landfill waste removal and have drastically reduced the number of big plastic bin liners used. The school’s student population has increased by almost 50 per cent to 500 students over this four-year period, an even more significant reflection on the waste they have reduced.
Hillcrest PS will save $2,815 a year in waste collection services and hundreds of dollars in large bin liners.
Congratulations to Hillcrest PS on the way you have worked together to make your goals a reality. Now what will you spend your savings on?
Cooloongup Primary School
Cooloongup Primary School have been successfully earth-cycling their fruit and vegetable scraps with their school’s compost digester systems, making landfill the last resort.
Students place their fruit and vegetable scraps into their classroom collection bucket to be taken to the compost digesters.
At recess and lunchtime students place their food scraps, including fruit and vegetables and bread crust, straight into their nearest compost digester.
Bread crust digestion is one of the reasons the team at Cooloongup Primary School love using the digesters and they say they are easy to maintain.
Other Resources
The FEAST that schools have been waiting for!
OzHarvest created FEAST (Food Education and Sustainability Training) in the belief that educating children about healthy eating and food waste prevention is crucial to positive change. FEAST is a Year 5 and 6 education program that runs for 10 weeks and addresses STEM, English, Health and Physical Education and Sustainability curriculum outcomes. FEAST teaches students about food waste, sustainability and nutrition using hands-on cooking activities in the classroom (no kitchen required).
The FEAST program includes:
- curriculum-aligned resources
- kitchen kit and electric fry pans to make cooking in the classroom accessible
- 20 hot and cold recipes
- teacher training
- ongoing support from the OzHarvest FEAST team.
Throughout the program, students are tasked with exploring and designing their own recipes for their “School Cookbook”, while addressing food waste prevention, healthy eating and inspiring the local community.
Register your school now or email feast@ozharvest.org for more information. Please note that funding is available for eligible primary schools to sign up to the program at no cost. To know if your school is eligible, please fill out the registration form on the FEAST website.
Incursions Update
We wish to thank Rosie Bruce for all her wonderful work as part of our team and wish her well with her new position at Western Metropolitan Regional Council.
Our new incursions officer for North of the River will be in touch soon. In the meantime, thanks to Peg Davies for helping us run audits in the North and to Belinda Bloxsome for her ongoing fabulous work as our School Support Officer for the southern suburbs of Perth. Please continue to send your metro audit requests to wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au
Just for a laugh!
Did you know that the idea of recycling actually came about from a group of pirates?
They came up with the idea of the four R's.
For more information about the WasteSorted Schools Program, please contact us at wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au .