Environment News

Australia (and MGC) has a Problem with Waste

While many of our students work hard to minimize their waste, a large proportion of our community have a lot to learn. War on Waste, a documentary recently aired on ABC and currently available on iView was a shocking wake up call to the amount of waste that Australians produce. We rank second to the United States in terms of the most domestic waste produced per capita.

Rather than point fingers at where the fault may lie, The MGC Environment Team would like to take a proactive approach to addressing this problem: Single-use plastic cutlery will quite literally outlive our students. The type of plastic that disposable cutlery is manufactured from is not recyclable in any commercial recycling service. Bioplastic cutlery, while being compostable in industrial composting facilities that reach 650C, will not break down in landfill or domestic compost bins and it is currently not recyclable in curbside recycling facilities. Hence the MGC Environment Team have teamed up with Richmond IKEA to provide an alternative product with a much lower environmental impact for our community.

A plastic fork is forever, but its days are numbered at MGC!

On June 5th, World Environment Day, The MGC café will no longer be providing plastic forks or spoons to customers. People are invited to bring their own reusable cutlery or to borrow a metal reusable spoon or fork from the canteen for a refundable fee of $1*. Thanks to some forward thinking Environment Team students who sought support from local business Richmond IKEA, IKEA have donated reusable cutlery that will be made available for MGC café customers so that we may be able to move away from single use plastics. This is also a great opportunity to remind the MGC community that disposable coffee cups are another form of single use plastic that are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. The MGC Café continues to offer 50c discounts to customers who bring their own reusable cups. So BYO cup next time you order a hot beverage to avoid being an environmental mug!

Documentaries like Australia’s War on Waste remind us of how big these problems are, but most importantly, also remind us that we are not powerless to address these problems. The MGC café and the Environment Team have worked collaboratively to make it easy for our community to make positive environmental decisions. It is up to all individuals in the community to make that a reality.

*- that’s as cheap as one of those cheap 7-11 coffees served in a disposable cup that will also outlast any living human on this planet!

References

1. Australia State of the Environment Committee, 2001, Australia State of the Environment 2001 – Independent Report to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage, CSIRO Publishing.