Celebrating National Recycling Week

Waste Awareness – 1B’s Rubbish Collection

As part of national Recycling Week, 1B took part in a hands-on learning activity to better understand how much rubbish we generate in a day. On lunchorder day, the class collected all the rubbish they created over the course of the day. The results were eye-opening!

Rubbish Collection

After a day of collecting, 1B ended up with 60 pieces of rubbish, including compostable items, which were carefully sorted. This rubbish was displayed outside the classroom for everyone to see.

Calculating the Bigger Picture

The class then took it a step further and calculated the long-term impact of this daily waste:

• 60 pieces of rubbish per day x 5 days a week = 300 pieces of rubbish per week.
• 300 pieces per week x 40 weeks per school year = 12,000 pieces of rubbish per year.
• 12,000 pieces per year x 7 years of primary school = 84,000 pieces of rubbish over their time in school.

1B then multiplied that by the 26 grades in the school, resulting in a staggering 2,184,000 pieces of rubbish over the course of the school's seven primary school years!

This activity sparked a great discussion in 1B about how we can reduce the waste we produce. 

Year 5 & 6: Creating Gorgeous Gifts Bags!

This year, to mark National Recycling Week, Year 5 and 6 students celebrated reusing. 

Instead of throwing away supermarket paper bags, the students transformed them into beautiful gift bags, giving these everyday items a second life. This project was not just about being crafty—it was about learning why reusing is so important for our environment.

Why Reuse?

In recent years, paper bags have largely replaced plastic ones, which kind of seems like a step in the right direction. However, it’s important to remember that while paper can be recycled, it can only be recycled up to four times and the production of paper bags takes a significant amount of resources—such as trees, water, and energy.

In fact, did you know that every 15 seconds, the world produces 199 tons of paper? That’s the weight of about 40 elephants! If we added up all the paper that’s wasted every year, we could build a wall 3.66 metres high, stretching all the way from Sydney to Perth! It’s a staggering reminder of how much paper is consumed and wasted. 

I hope that some of you might receive a gift this Christmas in a beautifully crafted bag made out of reused materials.