Sustainability at TCC

‘Now for the Future’ is Sustainability Victoria’s theme for 2022, encouraging actions that we can begin now and continue in order to help ourselves, our environment and our communities in the future.

I begin this year, along with many others, with excitement to contribute a positive difference and have been impressed already by the enthusiasm of many students taking action to assist our school in sustainable ways.

In a pre-Covid world, Trinity offered alternate recycling collections for soft plastics, plastic lids and batteries. These collections at Trinity ceased in 2021 and we are still unable to offer collections of these materials/products at this stage. The collection of clean bread tags (enclosed in a sealed paper envelope) will still be available at the school’s Reception, that we will pass onto Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs (check out ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au).

While we work to initiate more sustainable recycling and waste reduction practices at school, families are encouraged to make use of the well-established recycling opportunities that we all already have at our doorstep (quite literally) – that of our shire run kerbside recycling bins, coloured yellow, green and now purple.

Visit the Colac Otway Shire website for specific details on what/how to recycle a multitude of materials, while you can also download the Colac Otway ‘GoodSort’ Waste and Recycling app for information and reminders. Some further recycling options that exist in COLAC include;

·      Lids for Kids @ Coles Colac: Clean and dried plastic bottle tops (specifically marked numbered 2 and 4 underneath the lid) from milk, water and soft drink bottles. Check out https://www.lids4kids.org.au/ or Facebook search ‘Lids for Kids Western Victoria’.

·      REDcycle @ Coles and Woolworths Colac: Soft plastic recycling drop-off points for ‘scrunchable’ plastic including bread bags, netted fruit bags, biscuit packaging, cleaned yoghurt and baby food plastic pouches with hard plastic lids attached and many more. Check out: https://redcycle.net.au/ or Facebook search ‘RED Group’.

·      A comprehensive list of recyclable items that are collected in the local area, many of them taken for free: https://www.colacotway.vic.gov.au/My-property/Rubbish-recycling/Alternative-waste-disposal

Sarah Glennen: Sustainability Coordinator