IDEALS

Zara Shallcross, Year 10, Ridgeway Campus 

The IDEALS Sustainability stream has been working to implement a quality bin system within our school. We decided on this project, as commencing last year, we were the first people ever in the Sustainability stream, and wanted to produce something effective and longstanding that would forever benefit Ivanhoe. After some time and research, we realised that Ivanhoe was lacking sets of quality bins, including recycling and compost. We discovered the negative effects this was presenting towards the environment, and without much deliberation, we decided on a topic. We were going to provide Ivanhoe with a better bins system!  

Commencing the journey, we counted bins, noted common litter locations, and annotated a map of the school entailing current bin locations, and where they needed to be. Consequently, we sent some emails to School management describing our wishes for what types of bins, and how many. After some back and forth, a shipment was placed, and one set of 3 found their way to the cafe. 

While we were waiting for their arrival, we created a video informing the school of what goes into which bin, clearing misconceptions. This can now be seen playing on the TV screens around the school. However, it was not sustainable to order a new shipment of bins for the entire school and dispose of those we already possessed. After a lot of emailing, we were able to team up with IT, who helped us bring our vision to life.  

We shifted the locations of many old general waste bins and placed them into groups of 3.  After some designing, IT helped us manufacture some labels to go on every bin. We hope the posters we were able to produce and our video guide students into making the correct decisions when disposing of waste. Presently, the system is almost complete!  

Now, we are working on the disposal of the sorted waste and embedding knowledge of the 3 bins system into School culture through awareness programs. Though we are a small stream, we are proud of our achievements and how we can help make Ivanhoe Grammar School more sustainable!