Sustainable Schools

Waste Module: Waste & Litter Reduction, Green Procurement

The Waste Module of ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic assists schools to achieve the following measurable outcome:

• Reduction of waste to landfill by 70%, aim for 0.3m³/ student/ year

The Waste Module has five main themes:

1. Reduction of Resource Use

- paper use;
- cardboard and packaging;
- consumables (Office, ICT and catering);
- rubbish free lunches;
- toxic materials and products; and
- use of disposable cutlery/crockery and plastics.

2. Reuse of Materials

- establishment of reuse systems eg. paper, containers, ink cartridges,clothing etc;
- ICT/ technology equipment and
- school furniture

3. Recycling

- diversion of recyclable materials from land fill eg. paper, cardboard, cans,
- corks, clothing, fluorescent lamps, cartridges etc;
- ICT/technology equipment; and
- organics.

4. Green Procurement and Materials

- recycled content products;
- non toxic products;
- organic products;
- products that can be easily recycled;
- Whole of Life Cycle/ Cradle to Cradle sensitive products;
- fair trade products;
- cleaning; and
- canteen purchasing.

5. Litter Control

- reduction of packaging entering school grounds;
- litter collection in school grounds and surrounds;
- bird and rodent proofing bin systems; and
- reduction of litter in waterways.

Important note: the completion of projects and programs such as the Sustainability Victoria's Rubbish Free Lunch Challenge, and local government programs constitute major components of this module.

FREE resources to help embed waste into the curriculum are available from the ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic Resources page of this website.

If you are interested in undertaking the Waste Module in 2012, please fill in the application form on the following link.

http://sustainability.ceres.org.au/RSAuSSIVic2012

Applications are due by 5pm on 25th November. For more information about funding in 2012 please read CERES and ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic in 2012.

If you are a SV funded Waste module school in 2008-2011 please fill out the survey on the following link.

http://sustainability.ceres.org.au/ResourceSmartSurvey

Great Waste Websites:

www.ceres.org.au

www.recyclingnearyou.com.au

www.ceresfairfood.com.au

www.foodwise.com.au

The story of Stuff http://storyofstuff.com/

The secret life of things http://www.thesecretlifeofthings.com/

Clean Up Australia. http://www.cleanup.com.au/

ECO-Buy. http://www.ecobuy.org.au/

Ollie's World.  http://www.ollierecycles.com/index.html

Recycle City. http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/

'The Brunswick Browns' (below) was entered in the 2009 in the Futureshots Film Challenge. This film competition answered the question, "What is Sustainability?". Creating a film is a great way to get your school community excited about biodiversity! To view more videos, visit: http://www.futureshots.com.au/?screening.