Our local primary schools are waste warriors

Our Northern Beaches community is passionate about the environment – and none more so than the eco-conscious students at schools across the area.

Three of our local primary schools are in the running for the Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Sustainable Cities Award 2020, for outstanding achievements in reducing waste. Whether they win or not – we think they’re absolute champions!

Bilgola Plateau Public School has radically reduced its contribution to landfill by 66 percent since March 2018. Less than three years ago, the school was sending three skip bins a week to landfill. Fast forward to today and the school is down to just one skip bin a week.

Students and staff had been pushing the school to introduce recycling, but they went one step further. They began with the school canteen, their biggest source of waste. By purchasing reusable items such as utensils, cups, containers, lunch bags as well as eliminating straws, they were able to reduce their waste dramatically. To make sure the transition ran smoothly, a new industrial dishwasher was installed and trolleys for collecting the new reusable items were introduced.

Their next move was to source food from suppliers who used minimal packaging. They cooked and prepared all food in the canteen and their gardens helped supply produce package free.

But these waste heros weren’t finished yet! All the garbage bins in the playground were replaced with food scraps bins to kick off composting. With no garbage bins, the students are encouraged to pack zero waste lunches.

Northern Beaches Secondary College (NBSC), Cromer Campus P&C Association, project ‘Recycling Project’

NBSC Cromer Campus weren’t happy with the garbage strewn around the school grounds or the amount of waste they were sending to landfill. Their old bubblers were also leaking and wasting water.

What did they do?

In March this year, the school replaced their open garbage bins with dual bin enclosures, one for garbage and one for co-mingled recycling. The bins are colour coded and highly visible, so students know what goes in which bin. The whole school got behind this project with the P&C, Principal and Student Representative Council team all involved.

New colourful water stations replaced their old leaking bubblers and there was a new focus on refilling bottles, and less about bubblers. This decision ended up working well during COVID-19 where bubblers would not have been able to be used. Their water stations are Australian made, robust and made from recycled material, another win for the environment!

They have shared their project with their cousin campuses of the Northern Beaches Secondary College.

Seaforth Public School, project ‘Seaforth for the Sea – Kitchen Garden Program’

Seaforth Public School set up a school garden nine years ago. It has become a place of learning with students each week having lessons in the garden.

In the classes, students learn how to grow food sustainably amongst native wildlife such as brush turkeys, possums and butcher birds. A favourite for many of the students is getting to eat the fresh produce, which is a great way to reduce food and packaging waste.

During COVID-19, the local community have used the garden space as a nature walk particularly enjoying the frogs and chickens. Students and families also used the garden for peaceful respite during home learning.

Keep Australia Beautiful award winners will be announced on Thursday 12 November. Good luck Bilgola Plateau Public, Northern Beaches Secondary College (Cromer Campus) and Seaforth Public.

Council is dedicated to a single-use plastic free Northern Beaches - we know many of our local schools are also reducing their single-use plastics. Please email us and let us know what initiatives you have taken so we can share your story with the community.