Green Team News
What a Waste!
Green Team members have been busy sorting through waste.
Unfortunately, we find a lot of coffee cups, plastic wrappers in our compost alongside whole pieces of uneaten food. From mandarins, apples and cherry tomatoes to whole ham and cheese sandwiches and salad wraps.
Not only does this make an already smelly job complicated it’s disappointing to see so much food wasted.
According to Food Bank, More than 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted in Australia each year. That’s enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground nine times!
Students have eating time inside classrooms and may take some food out with them during break times. We encourage everyone to take any left-over food home with them.
At SKiPPS we have a three-colour bin system to sort our waste and prevent as much as we can going to landfill. Ask your child what the three colour bins are and take this simple quiz.
I wonder who will score the most in your household?
TRUE or FALSE?
- Paper towel and tissues should go in the compost. TRUE - This helps balance the nitrogen, absorbing excess moisture.
- Plastic containers with the recycle symbol 1-5 should be placed in the yellow bin. TRUE - Any recycle symbols with a number 6 or 7 cannot be recycled in the City of Port Phillip. This is why coffee cup lids and Tetra Pak cartons (juice and milk cartons) cannot be recycled!
- Coffee cups must be sent to landfill. TRUE - They cannot be recycled or composted at our school.
- It is okay to add citrus scraps, left over dairy products and bread crusts to the green compost bin. TRUE - We can compost small amounts of these items at school. Our worm farms get a special selection of the compost!
- Little scraps of paper should go in to the recycle bin. FALSE - These can also be added to the compost.
- Cardboard can be recycled in the red bins. FALSE - Cardboard can be recycled in the yellow bins.
- Batteries should be recycled in the yellow bins. FALSE - These need to be collected separately and taken to drop off points, such as the e-waste recycling centre in Port Melbourne or supermarkets such as Aldi.
- Pens and textas should be sent to landfill. FALSE - These can be collected and taken to drop off points such as Officeworks for special recycling.
If you’re not sure where to put your rubbish, check the signs around the school.
Have you started watching the War on Waste season 3?
Check it out if you’re interested in learning more about Australia's waste crisis and the everyday solutions to help tackle this problem.