Term 3 Newsletter 2025

The team at WasteSorted Schools are here to support you and your school 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, we are always here to help. 

Contact the WasteSorted Schools team on (08) 6364 6829 or  wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au.

In line with the Catholic Education WA vision, and the Laudato Si’ Action Plan for 2025–2030, Catholic schools across Australia are pursuing ecological action through student environmental ministry teams.

Leschenault Catholic Primary School has a very passionate group of Year 5/6 students this year who have begun their 2025 stewardship journey by supporting the new waste diversion bin systems which the school received funding for in 2024 through a WasteSorted Schools grant.  

This ministry team plays the vital role of mentoring their peers about the correct use of the bins and they monitor the bins at recess and lunch daily – a particularly popular action with the Year 1 students who happily seek their advice. 

WasteSorted Schools visited at the beginning of Term 1 to run a WasteSorted Race incursion to support the mentoring actions of this team and their actions are certainly being felt across the whole school. 

Every fortnight, the team reports how the school is progressing at an assembly ‘lineup’ including both the grim and the good news. This provides important feedback to the school community and serves as a reminder of the correct bin sorting processes.

Each year, the ministry team selects an environmental awareness day to support as a whole school event and in 2024, this community planted over 300 native trees around their school for National Tree Day.

The event for 2025 is under discussion now and students are keen to support either Plastic Free July or World Oceans Day – both are great opportunities to address the issues of plastic waste in our environment.   

The school’s edible garden beds are also a great demonstration of partnership processes in action. The school’s canteen manager, Mrs Taylor, loves her veggie patches and uses the pumpkins, zucchini and sweet potatoes regularly in her menu offerings.

The nutrients used to help these gardens thrive, come from the Pre-Primary worm farms which they maintain by feeding the worms their ‘crunch and sip’ fruit and veggie scraps.

The environmental ministry team provides the link by harvesting the worm wizz weekly and putting it on the veggie beds.

As part of Containers for Change, the school has partnered with local business Cash for Cans who come and collect the Containers for Change bins when the environmental team lets them know they are full.  

Every 10c collected per container goes towards environmental activities within the school, including buying compostable bin liners for each of the classrooms.

Well done Leschenault Catholic Primary school on your great waste reduction efforts! 

If you have stories of your own that you would like to share, get in touch at wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au

• Round 2: Closes 4pm, Tuesday 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 grants | Waste Authority WA

WasteSorted Schools and Clean Schools beginner’s workshop

Date: Tuesday 26 August

Time: 9am–3pm

Venue: Bannister Creek Primary School

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools and Keep Australia Beautiful WA 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 - Bannister Creek Primary School

WasteSorted Schools Student Meet

Date: Tuesday 16 September

Time: 10.30am–2.30pm

Venue: Lynwood Senior High School (436 Metcalfe Rd, Parkwood)

Join us for a day of engaging discussions, hands-on activities, and collaborative learning focused on building a greener future. Whether your students are eco-warriors or just curious about waste and sustainability, this event is for you!

This event is for high school students and staff who want to work together to drive change in waste and sustainability at their school. 

Find more information and register here: https://events.humanitix.com/student-meet-2025 

Youth Climate Change Summit: A call to action

Date: Friday 8 August

Time: 9am–2.30pm

Venue:  Hands Memorial Oval, South Bunbury

WasteSorted Schools is a supporter of the inaugural Youth Climate Summit. This event is being hosted in conjunction with Manea Senior College, Edith Cowan University Bunbury Campus, City of Bunbury and City of Busselton.

This event is for high school students from Years 10-12 and their accompanying teachers in the Bunbury and Southwest region who are passionate about protecting our planet and advocating for and designing real solutions for climate action. 

Students will have the opportunity to meet sustainability organisations taking action, hear from experts and work through case studies and youth projects about climate action with other like-minded youth. 

Find more information and register here: Youth Climate Change Summit

FreshSNAP

FreshSNAP (School Nutrition Advisory Program) offers a free, comprehensive nutrition advisory service for all schools in Western Australia. The whole school community can access free tools and resources to foster healthy and sustainable school food environments.

Some of the resources they offer include a Year 4 Food and Environment unit with learning tasks which introduce food production and processing in traditional societies and develops practical skills, including building a worm farm, establishing a vegetable garden, and recycling food waste.

In their Year 10 Sustainable Food Systems unit, students are invited to critically analyse how their food choices influence the physical environment. Students are introduced to the concept of sustainability, what it means and what they can do to contribute towards a more sustainable food system for the future.

These resources and more can be accessed through their website Fresh School Nutrition Advisory Program | FreshSNAP

WALGA – Better Practice Waste Management for Public Events

Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) have created a set of guidelines that offers event organisers a step-by-step approach to hosting low waste events.

Although designed with community events in mind, with tips on setting up bin stations, bin placement and correct signage, this helpful guide can provide you with guidance on how to create the lowest waste event possible in a school context.

Better Practice Waste Management for Public Events

Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards

Keep Australia Beautiful WA's annual Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Award nominations are currently open and are closing on 22 August.

These awards are for regional and remote communities of all sizes. There are nine categories that communities can enter to showcase their projects.

If your school has a student, or group of students, that are passionate about protecting and enhancing their local environment you can nominate them in the Young Legends category and help shine a light on the next generation of sustainability leaders!

Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards

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.

Keep Australia Beautiful Week

As environmental pressures mount, Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) is calling on all Australians to come together during KAB Week 2025 (4–10 August) to help “Pick Up the Pieces” – restoring and rebuilding our environment for future generations.
 

The theme for this year is Picking Up the Pieces: It Starts with Us – as we look to rebuild and restore for future generations.

Keep Australia Beautiful Week - Keep Australia Beautiful

National Science Week

National Science Week will be held from 9–17 August this year. The school theme for National Science Week in 2025 is Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language. This theme invites students and teachers across Australia to delve into the mysteries of the Universe by exploring the fundamental languages of nature, including mathematics and the groundbreaking field of quantum science.

Schools - National Science Week

OzHarvest Use It Up Tape Design Competition

Calling all young artists! Use your art skills to design an eye-catching poster and packaging for OzHarvest’s Use It Up Tape®.  Winning designs will be featured on limited-edition Use It Up Tape® packaging distributed to schools nationwide in 2026. The winners will receive a merchandise pack, certificate, movie passes, and a $1,000 Woolworths voucher for their school. Entries are open now and will close on 22 September!

For more information follow the link: UIU x FEAST Competition | OzHarvest

MobileMuster's Schools' Competition

MobileMuster's Schools' Competition is back for 2025.

The theme for this year is 'What's in a phone?'. To participate in the schools’ competition, primary and high school students can submit any one of the following: Artwork (photo, drawing, sculpture, painting, digital) or a Short Film (1 minute).

Entries are currently open and will be closing 1 November 2025. 

Schools Competition - Mobile Muster

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

I called my local recycling centre about what to do with old batteries - They said they'd take them free of charge.