Three Central Coast schools are among 21 state-wide taking part in a new program educating students about sustainability.
Students at Porters Creek and Brisbania Public Schools and Erina High School are determined to cut down reliance on single-use plastics as part of the program.
Minister for Environment James Griffin said more than 1,000 students across the state were conducting audits on their school bins as part of the NSW Government’s sustainability partnership with the Environmental Zoo and Education Centre (EZEC).
“As NSW adjusts to the single-use plastic bans, schools are the perfect environment to drive important long-term behaviour change around reducing plastics and waste,” Griffin said.
“We’re committed to reducing waste and cutting our reliance on problematic single-use plastics in NSW and, through this new program, we’re asking young people to help us on this mission.
“This next generation of leaders are inspiring their friends, family and school communities to take simple actions to help reduce waste and keep NSW free from plastic.”
As part of the voluntary program, under the supervision of an expert, students create a data set at the start of the term on the type of waste their school is producing before learning how to reduce waste over two terms.
A final waste audit is conducted at the end of the program for the students to understand the impact of their actions on the volume of waste produced by the school.
Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said we are teaching students how to better look after the environment and be more sustainable.
“We know that many of our students are passionate about environmental issues and the lessons they learn at school go beyond the school grounds to create positive change for the entire community,” Mitchell said.
“It’s why the NSW Government has invested in our $10M Sustainable Schools NSW Program, supporting our public schools to implement curriculum linked action to reduce waste and help raise awareness of the importance of looking after our environment.”
As part of the program students are identifying ways their school can reduce waste going to landfill and increase their schools resource recovery – a lesson in the power of the circular economy.
The Environment Protection Authority is investing $900,000 to support 17 Sustainability Partners like EZEC to lead projects that help reduce reliance on single-use plastics across NSW.
For more information on these partnerships, visit https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/working-together/partnerships-with-the-epa.
Source:
Media release, Dec 12
NSW Government