In mid-2018, Bayswater Primary School signed up to the City Of Bayswater’s ‘Recycling Education Program’ and was provided with four green-lid and two yellow-lid mobile garbage bins. These are emptied fortnightly free of charge. This program also allows the school to participate in excursions and incursions provided by the program.
Having these bins for any green waste not suitable for composting means we can divert it from landfill. We can also recycle items other than just cardboard and paper. Thank you to Marise Fitzmaurice, the school’s Manager of Corporate Services, and Binh Luong, Coordinator of Environmental Health at the City of Bayswater, for their efforts to make this happen.
The City of Bayswater has lots of useful information about recycling on its website, offers composting and other sustainability workshops in conjunction with EMRC and Environment House, and has started ‘Recycling Stations’ for recyclables such as batteries, lights and fluorescent tubes at major locations.
Their 2018/2019 Waste and Recycling Guide is available at www.bayswater.wa.gov.au/environment/waste-and-recycling.
Yellow top bin
As the plastic bag ban approached on 1 July 2018, the sustainability committee forwarded a DWER flier to the school community providing details of the ban.
In term 3 2018, the school started recycling its soft plastics (i.e. any plastic you can ‘scrunch’ into a ball in your hand).
Most soft plastics are made from non-renewable resources (like oil) and used only once before being thrown away. As oil supplies become scarcer, we simply can’t afford to throw away such a valuable resource. Plastic bags also present life-threatening risks to wildlife and livestock. Turtles, whales, birds and fish are especially vulnerable. Soft plastic floating in water can be mistaken for food. Once ingested, a bag can prevent the animal from digesting food, or can prevent them submerging and being able to survive.
The good news is these plastics can be recycled at many supermarkets. The bad news, as revealed in research done for Recycling Week, is that only 22% of people know about the program. This free program run by RedCycle, in collaboration with Coles and Woolworths supermarkets, has collection bins in stores across most of metro-Australia. The cost of collecting and processing the material is covered by many of Australia’s best-known manufacturers (including the Planet Ark Endorsed Naturale Toilet Tissue). The plastic is made into furniture for schools and kindergartens among other things.
What soft plastic you CAN Recycle
- Plastic bags
- Bread, rice and pasta bags
- Biscuit packets (not trays)
- Muesli bar wrappers
- Confectionery (lollie) packets
- Newspaper cling wrap
- Bubble wrap
- Clear plastic wrap (e.g. Glad wrap)
- Old green (and other re-usable) bags
By students using the red bins located in the undercover area for soft plastics recycling, we will be helping protect our precious marine life and valuable resources.
National Recycling Week (22 October – 26th October 2018)
