Sustainability & Agriculture

Plastic Bottle top lids – we need your help!

Aitken College has a commitment to reducing the amount of rubbish that goes into landfill. This is in line with the College’s strategic plan to reduce landfill accumulation and try to achieve a benchmark of 0.3m3 per student/per year as set by Sustainability Victoria.

Plastic bottle tops are generally destined for kerbside recycling bins, screwed on firmly to the bottle they came with. But what may come as a surprise to many, is that the lids are simply too small for most industrial recycling facilities and leaving the lids on these bottles can deem them a contaminant, which means they cannot be processed and end up in landfill after all.

The Technology department, led by Mr Ian Watson, and with the help of Environmental class leaders, are looking into turning plastic bottle top lids destined for landfill into new products in the school. We are asking the Aitken community to support this great initiative by helping us collect bottle top lids. Collection points will be set up at the school where students can drop off the plastic bottle top lids that they collect from home.

Most plastic bottle top lids are HDPE (High Density Polyethylene): rigid and durable, offering greater chemical resistance, with great strength and opacity due to the crystalline structure.

If you would like further information about this program, you can contact Mr Ian Watson or me.

Mr Dwayne Ganci

Sustainability Coordinator