NEST News
City of Casey Waste and Recycling Tour
Did you know that the average Australian household throws out a truck full of food waste every year? We as a nation throw out $8-10 billion of food. That’s four million tonnes per annum of food which ends up in landfill.
On June 2, the two Year 9 Environmental Science classes went on a waste and recycling tour around the City of Casey. This tour gave us a look at where our rubbish ended up and the things we can do to for everyday waste control. In class, we were learning about renewable energy and this excursion showed us the importance of reducing our waste in the first place. We visited two landfill sites and a recycled plastic manufacturer.
What started out as simply a chilly morning to a visit to a landfill site, ended with students in awe at what they learnt and motivated to do something. We got to meet with the people who work hard behind the scenes to dispose of our rubbish. The people who turn our plastics bags into useful furniture and prevent it from going into the oceans. And the people who operate systems that draw gases from landfill and turn it into the electricity that can power every household in Casey. The work they do is incredible but from what we learnt in class, this is obviously not a renewable source of energy.
It was very confronting to see how our actions directly effect the environment. Environmental issues are everyone’s issues because we all contribute to waste production. However, the good news is that we can all do something. We can start changing our lifestyles today, perhaps something as small as throwing a bottle into the recycling bin, can create a cleaner environment tomorrow.
What you can do:
1)Australians dump 7,150 recyclable plastic bags into landfills every minute and it is estimated that around 50 million bags enter the Australian litter stream every year. Take your own canvas bags to carry groceries when you go our shopping.
2)Australians throw out the equivalent of the contents of one out of every five shopping bags, which equates to every Australian household throwing out $1,036 worth of groceries each year. Don’t overcook and always reheat leftovers or compost food scraps.
3)Join a Clean Up Australia Day or beach patrol event, you’re stopping the rubbish from going into the ocean, potentially killing sea creatures and ending back on our plates when you eat seafood.
4)Start a waste control plan and spread the word in your community.
5)Use the big bins around the school and recycle when possible. Think before you throw.
Ben from REPLAS explaining to some students about the types of products that can be made out of recycled soft plastics
City of Casey litter officer explaining his role to the students
Year 9 Environmental Science students, Mrs Latham and Mrs Ball at REPLAS in Carrum Downs
Electricity generation plant from the methane produced at the Narre Warren Landfill site
Ben from REPLAS explaining to some students about the types of products that can be made out of recycled soft plastics
City of Casey litter officer explaining his role to the students
Year 9 Environmental Science students, Mrs Latham and Mrs Ball at REPLAS in Carrum Downs
Electricity generation plant from the methane produced at the Narre Warren Landfill site
Amy Chu
Year 9 Environmental Science student and NEST member
Nossal High School celebrates World Environment Day
It has been a busy time for the NEST group and the Year 9 Environmental Science students. Monday June 5 was World Environment Day. We ran a host of events to acknowledge this day and to raise awareness about environmental issues.
On June 2, the Year 9 Environmental Science students went on a Waste and Recycling tour of the City of Casey. On actual World Environment Day, the Year 9 Environmental Science students participated in a composting workshop with the hopes of getting a composting project up and running in Term 3. Additionally, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) came out and ran an extremely enlightening workshop with students from Years 9 to 11.
The NEST students took this opportunity to run a waste campaign to raise awareness about the various recycling options around the school. This campaign was very successful and the strategies used will be implemented for the foreseeable future.
Excitingly in this week we were awarded our third ResourceSmart Schools module and star. As a team, we have successfully completed the Biodiversity module which makes it our second in 6 months!
Overall it was a busy and successful week. It was wonderful hearing all the environmentally related conversations going on around the school with both students and staff!
Ms Jessica Ball
Environmental science teacher and sustainability coordinator
AYCC Switched on Schools Workshop
On Monday June 5, a group of 30 Nossal students were very fortunate to attend a workshop run by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and organised by NEST. Laura Sykes, who ran the workshop for us, was very passionate about climate change action, and ignited that passion in us.
Laura explained to us the dangers of inaction on climate change, and the disproportionate effect of climate change on minority and developing communities. She explained the campaigns and actions of the AYCC in bringing action on climate change into the national spotlight, by utilising a mascot known as Ellie the Elephant, which would follow the campaigns of the 2010 federal election. Laura prompted us to consider the effects of climate change on younger generations, and what actions we could take to make our school and community more environmentally sustainable. We agreed on a few achievable and meaningful reforms, and set NEST to work to investigate them – so look out for that in future!
After walking us through the achievements made by young people all across Australia in the past few years, and the mission and programs of the Indigenous youth climate action group, SEED, Laura encouraged us to collaborate with the environmental groups of other local and selective schools to further climate change action. We were also fortunate enough to be given a taste of some of the spiciest memes that the AYCC had to offer, and told about and given the chance to express our interest in Powershift 2017, a three-day youth climate summit in Melbourne that will run in July!
I know that I, and many other students, learned a lot from this workshop, and are looking forward to working with the AYCC in future! We’re very grateful for Laura’s time and efforts in explaining the effects of climate change and climate action to us, and to the AYCC for the valuable work they do. I’d also like to thank NEST and Ms Ball for organising the workshop, and pursuing the ideas we collaboratively came up with in the workshop!
Jordan van Rhyn - Year 11
Students at the AYCC workshop brainstorming ideas for environmental improvement at Nossal High School
Students at the AYCC workshop brainstorming ideas for environmental improvement at Nossal High School
City of Casey Composting Workshop
On Monday June 5, the Phoenix and Griffin Environmental Science classes had a visitor from the Council come in and teach us about composting. It was a very pleasant and informative lesson. The purpose was to not only educate the students on the process and benefits of composting but to help kick start the school’s new composting program.
We learnt not just about how to compost, but also about what happens to food scraps if they are simply thrown away and watched videos that explained some of the recycling process. Overall, the session was considered very enjoyable by all students involved.
Prachi Beniwal
Year 9 Environmental Science student