Notre Dame College’s trash could become treasure on Thursday, June 2 when the school finds out if it has won Emerging School of the Year at the ResourceSmart Schools Awards.
The college has implemented a new waste system through the Sustainability Victoria ResourceSmart program, which earned it a finalist position in the awards after making a commitment to become more sustainable.
The college has moved away from its single landfill bins to a three-bin system, with bins for organics (food waste), recycling and landfill.
It also has soft plastic bins and battery bins stationed around its Knight St and Emmaus campuses.
Sustainability Victoria’s community action director Katie Pahlow said the program was a great way for students to have a voice about the environment.
“It’s about giving young people the agency, especially in a world where it feels like it’s doom and gloom with climate change,” Ms Pahlow said.
“It gives them tangible things to do that helps them feel like they’re creating the future they want.
“Even though Notre Dame are only new to the program they’ve achieved a lot in a short time.”
In reaching its sustainability goals, Notre Dame has created a student group to help spread awareness.
Notre Dame sustainability co-ordinator Kirsten Hines said she hoped the program would help students make a difference, both in and out of school.
“Hopefully they can carry that through as they move through their high school years and we can keep bringing the kids in (to the program) as they start,” she said.
“So, we've got that continued education progress and then hopefully having the student leaders on board, they can pass that down to the senior kids.”
This seems to be the case with Year 12 student leader Brodie Whitehead, who is not only seeing the change for himself, but has noticed the rest of the student body follow along.
“You become a lot more conscious of where you're putting your rubbish and you actually make the decision of where it goes and it’s also a good teaching tool,” he said.
“You want to know you’re doing it the right way and that’s something the school wanted to ensure leading into the future.”