Today St Peter’s Catholic Primary School became the newest member of our region’s growing legion of ‘Recycling Hero’ schools fighting for a zero waste future.
Waste and Recycling Councillor Shane Latcham said it was a privilege to congratulate the school on their hero status at assembly today.
“I can see the hard work that students and staff have been putting in over the past few months and the results have been phenomenal,” Cr Latcham said.
“Since March the school has introduced a number of fantastic initiatives, from student monitored bin stations at lunch time and collection points for soft plastics and 10c containers to composting and mulching.
“Recently we worked with the students to do a waste audit and check in on their process, and found that the school had been incredibly successful in diverting recyclables and other resources from general waste. Their total general waste generated over a 3 day period has reduced from 80kg to 16.4kg – which is an incredible effort.
“Students have been hands on at every stage of the process. They have driven the change and they can prove the difference it has made.”
St Peter’s Principal Anthony Greene said it was great to see how enthusiastic the students are in implementing change.
“This is a fantastic program to be part of and I am very proud of what we’ve achieved since we introduced it earlier this year,” Mr Greene said.
“Not only is this a valuable investment in our school, because it saves us money in waste services, it’s also an incredible investment in our environment and in our students.
“It’s wonderful for the students to learn that they can really make a difference.”
Cr Latcham said there are 6 schools across the region working with Rockhampton Region Waste & Recycling (RRWR) to achieve hero status.
“The Recycling Hero School model was created by officers at RRWR, and is unique to our region,” said Cr Latcham.
“This isn’t just a one-off session, it’s a title that a school earns through the delivery of a full education program involving a series of lessons and hands-on activities that can be linked to the national curriculum for a number of subjects and year levels.
“The school will demonstrate ongoing education and perform regular audits to keep their title – which means we can really measure the long term impact the program is having.
“This initiative is part of Council’s broader Waste Strategy, which outlines our plan to achieve zero waste by 2050. One important element of this strategy is to ensure our kids are approaching waste responsibly now, and taking those good habits home to their families.”
