Environment Council Update
This term has seen the introduction of two exciting sustainable and environmentally-friendly initiatives at the College.
Firstly, new eco bins have made their way into the Pastoral homerooms and the main classrooms around the College. These bins were purchased as part of the NSW Eco Schools Grant that we received at the start of the year and the Environment Council members helped construct these bins to get them ready. These bins are yellow, blue and red in colour and are:
✓Fully recyclable at the end of their life
✓ Made from a tough and lightweight corrugated plastic (with a lifetime guarantee!)
✓ Tear proof and waterproof
✓ Corrugated plastic is certified carbon neutral
✓ Flexibility of cardboard with the durability of plastic
So what do these bins mean?
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Yellow – Mixed Recycle |
Blue – Paper and Cardboard |
Red – Landfill |
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Hard Plastics (not scrunchables) Glass Bottles Any plastic that has a 1-6 triangle on it
|
Office Paper Cardboard |
Cling wrap Plastic bags Sticky tape Polystyrene (including Styrofoam) |
So please familiarise yourself with these bins and what goes in them. Here is some more information on these bins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TQcjP-X7Oo
Secondly, you may have noticed the ‘Return and Earn’ sign at the front of the College. We are now a partnering school with Nepean Distributors who have kindly provided us with four orange 60L bins where students and staff can place their cans, plastic bottles, juice poppers and small milk and drink cardboard cartons to help raise funds for sustainable purposes around the College. For every container collected, we receive 10c and, so far, we have raised over $100. These containers need to be not soiled or scrunched and fully emptied. It is very important that we place the correct items in these bins and NOT waste products or other plastic waste, so we can contribute to this scheme in the most effective way possible.
Finally, a quick reminder that we are still running the important ‘Keep Cup’ initiative at the Canteen. This idea was put forward and led by Haley M, our Environment Captain, and has encouraged students and staff to bring their own Keep Cup to reduce the terrible impact that styrofoam and regular coffee cups have on the environment. Did you know most coffee cups cannot be recycled as they contain a small plastic layer in the cup which helps it to be waterproof, thus not able to be recycled, and styrofoam stays in land fill for over 500 years!
There will be some more environment initiatives running next term so stay tuned!
Maria Boulatsakos - Environment Teacher
