What a load of rubbish: Students to focus on waste

Year 5 students will this week learn a lot of rubbish – and the school could not not be more pleased.

To mark National Recycling Week, Trent Allwood’s class will this week visit the KESAB Education Centre, at Wingfield, to learn what happens to their waste and recycling once bins leave the kerb.

Later this week, KESAB will come to Blackfriars to host a Litter Less Workshop, focussing on rubbish issues at school, in the community and the environment.

The Year 5 boys will conduct a sample litter audit, the results of which will allow them to better understand the types of rubbish in the school yard, hotspots and better bin placement.

Both sessions have been sponsored by the City of Prospect.

KESAB Environmental Services Officer Erin Abell said the excursion and the workshop were “important initiatives for students to learn how to better manage their resources and increase their respect for our beautiful country”.

“During the sessions, the students will identify challenges at the school site and will be able to use their problem-solving skills,” Ms Abell says.

“As we like to say, where there’s pollution, be the solution.”

To that end, the theme of this year’s National Recycling Week is “Waste isn’t Waste until it’s Wasted”.

“This year, it is all about quality over quantity. It is not about recycling more, but recycling better,” says Planet Ark, which established National Recycling Week in 1996.

“Reducing our waste not only keeps valuable materials out of landfill, it also benefits the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Thinking that waste isn’t waste until it’s wasted also provides some valuable insight into how the recycling and resource management industry works in conjunction to your efforts.”