Sydney high school students join the war on waste!
Barrenjoey High School in northern Sydney has joined the war on waste and set its sights on soft plastic waste.
Barrenjoey was the first high school to use the Plastic Police® Starter Pack to set up a soft plastic reduction and recycling program.
The new recycling initiative kicked off during the school’s annual Eco Joey week: a week full of sustainability activities focused on protecting the local environment. Students created a short film to educate the school about plastic pollution and encourage students to recycle their soft plastic packaging, such as chip packets, muesli bar wrappers and sandwich bags.
So far, the program has been running well thanks to a dedicated team of Plastic Police® Champions led by passionate Head Teacher, Ms Caryn Harrington, and several eco-warrior students. The school collects soft plastic from their food tech rooms, canteen and the school grounds. They collect between one and three bags per week which are dropped off to a nearby REDcycle bin for recycling.
The school has plans to purchase bench seats made from recycled plastic including soft plastics to offset what they have collected. Ms Harrington said, “Everyone at school loves the idea of buying back a bench seat made from our soft plastic. It’s about using waste as a resource and seeing recycling in action.”
“Our students are looking to the future, and they are taking positive action to limit damage to our environment. We are reducing and recycling our soft plastic to stop the turtles from eating it. Plus, it can end up being furniture that we can use!” she said.
View the film created by students at Barrenjoey High School below.
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