Sustainable students: Asha Radley, Lachlan Brennan and Tippi Holyman show off the classroom’s recycling system.
Marking the 25th year, the second week of November has marked Recycling week in Australia.
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A week of reflecting, learning, and implementing ways to be kinder to the environment.
For Tongala Primary School, while Recycling Week is important, it’s little different to any other week.
Wellbeing and environmental officer Brett Radley said the school had been on a long journey of reducing waste.
“Recycling is a massive component for the school,” he said.
“Kids often feel like they don’t have a voice when it comes to these things, especially with COP26 and everything going on.
“We’re working to give them power and a say, to become a part of the choices and not a result of them.”
The school has implemented a range of initiatives while working with outside resources and the local council.
No waste: Two of the three composting bays in the school’s vegetable garden.
One huge element is composting, which began almost five years ago when the school introduced compost buckets into the classrooms to use in the communal vegetable garden.
“It started in a small way and blossomed,” Mr Radley said.
“We started in only having one bin in the classroom, now we’ve introduced two new bins: yellow for recycling and another for soft plastics.”
Campaspe Shire Council provided several soft plastic bins, making the school a local hub for the town to recycle soft plastics.
Working alongside Echuca and Kyabram’s support service Vivid, the soft plastic bins are collected regularly — in a year, the school stopped about 80kg of soft plastics from going to landfill.
As a result of the hard work by the students, staff and locals, council donated a bench made entirely of soft plastics.
“We call it the inclusion bench,” Mr Radley said.
“It’s where if a child is feeling down, they can take a seat and let others know they’re not feeling 100% — they can help one another.”
In addition to the current recycling scheme, Mr Radley said staff and students were always looking for ways they could become more sustainable.
“For recycling week this year, we’re discussing with the students more ways to reduce our waste together,” he said.
“With the older students, we’re finding ways to repurpose wooden pallets that would otherwise go to the tip or be burnt.
“We’re letting the kids come up with ideas for how to utilise them, to make furniture out of them.”
Team effort: Students have had the opportunity to learn about composting and gardening. Pictured - Tippi Holyman, Lachlan Brennan, Asha Radley and Charlie the wellbeing dog.
Giving students control over their own waste management has been a rewarding initiative for all involved.
Mr Radley said the school encouraged students to think about how they could reduce and recycle, encouraging students to bring in old art supplies from home to reuse and consider what went in their lunchbox in terms of plastics and reusables.
“The kids get a blast out of it, sometimes they go home and lecture their parents about recycling,” he said, with a laugh.
“I’m so impressed with the students, how they’ve adapted, and giving them control and a voice over their future.
“They’re passionate about looking after their future and changing the direction.”
Sweet success: Strawberries are among the fruits and vegetables the students have grown.
The primary school is looking to expand on its sustainability journey, with a new greenhouse on the horizon, with a plan to grow plants and teach students along the way.
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