Students from Wolumla Public School have showed the community how young minds in the Bega Valley Shire are leading the way when it comes to keeping valuable resources away from landfill.
Council's Waste Strategy Coordinator, Tim Cook said the ongoing Let's Get it Sorted waste education program run in partnership with the Bournda Environmental Education Centre (BEEC) continues to return inspiring results.
"A recent visit to Wolumla Public School demonstrates how waste education and enthusiastic students are working together to significantly reduce the school's impact on the environment," Mr Cook said.
"Working with teachers from our local Environmental Education Centre, a small group of students called The Bin Busters produced an educational video they shared with the whole school community, including other students, teachers and families.
"The video delivered a message to reduce non-recyclables like soft plastics that find their way into school through student lunchboxes, and it's safe to say this and other strategies used by the school is making a big difference.
"In the two years that Wolumla Public School has been part of the Let's Get it Sorted program they have reduced the quantity of soft plastics in their landfill bins from 88% to 22%.
"Wanting to reduce this further, the students and BEEC teachers recently participated in a workshop where they learnt how to make reusable beeswax wraps for use in their lunchboxes.
"Also encouraging is the impressive journey the school has made from having a bin contamination problem in 2021 to being inspiring leaders in 2023.
"Contamination rates started out at 67% in their FOGO bins and 91% in their recycling bins, and now the students and school can proudly say that contamination rates in both these bins are down to just 1%.
"This is a fantastic achievement and we are confident that students have taken this message out of the classroom and into their homes, which is the cherry on the cake.
"With a different school participating each term in the Council-funded Let's Get it Sorted program, we are seeing similar stories coming from other places in the shire.
"These are achievements for schools and students to be proud of, and to me it looks like the future of waste management in the Bega Valley Shire is in good hands."
For more information on the Let's Get it Sorted program and to watch the Wolumla Public School waste education video, visit Council's website.
