SUSTAINABILITY 

Green Team News

GREEN TEAM Annual Waste Audit Report

The Year 6 Environmental Leaders alongside the Green Team members from across the school completed the annual waste audit last week. Classroom bins were analysed and litter was collected from the yard. The students found some very surprising facts about the rubbish at SKiPPS. 

Although most bins have signage explaining what can or can’t go in, many of the classrooms had a variety of incorrect items placed in the bins. For example, there were a lot of food scraps in the landfill bins that should be used for compost. 

There was also a lot of food waste including whole sandwiches, sushi rolls and fruit that didn’t even have one bite taken out of it as well as unused plastic soy sauce fish containers. Each year in Victoria, 250,000 tonnes of food is thrown out – enough wasted food to fill Melbourne's Eureka Tower.

A total of 5.252kg of rubbish was weighed and sent to landfill on Friday. This didn’t include the outside bin. Our aim is to get this down to 0kg by our next audit!

Out in the yard, soft plastic wraps and packets were everywhere. Did you know that 95% of the litter found on Port Phillip Bay beaches comes from waste we produce every day in our city and suburbs, not from beachgoers? Plastic pollution can remain for years, posing a threat to the marine ecosystem.

The students concluded that there is still a lot of room for improvement. We can all do our bit to minimise the impact of litter by avoiding and reducing waste and ensuring it doesn’t get into our streets and stormwater systems in the first place.

Everyday actions to reduce your waste:

• Avoid products with plastic packaging and bring ‘nude food’ to school in your lunchbox

• Collect textas and pens that do not work – these can be taken to Officeworks for recycling 
• Add tissues and paper towel to the compost
• Send old electronic devices and batteries to your nearest E-waste facility
• Become a conscious consumer. Before buying something that contains plastic, consider if it’s needed, pack a shopping bag, a reusable cup, and steel straw in your bag
• Pick up litter when you see it or join a clean up group, such as Beach Patrol, who clean up local beaches on a regular basis. 

Next sustainability meeting will be held on Tuesday 26th July @ 3:45 in Lil’s room. 

Hope to see you there!’.