Environment – 2 May 2019

The Issue: Coffee cups

The Facts:

Australia uses 1 billion cups per year that are not recycled. That’s 50,000 cups being used every half hour.

Your Solution:

• Keep cups will give you a discount in most cafés – it’s an investment.
• Our College has partnered the ‘Simply Cups’ project which allows for you to recycle your coffee cups for days you’ve forgotten your keep cup.

The Issue: Recycling & plastics

The Facts:

85% of soft plastics from bags and packaging end up in landfill.

Plastic is designed to last forever – however single-use plastic items are used for only a few minutes at a time before being thrown away.

Your Solution:

• Use a reusable drink bottle.
• Swap to glass – its infinitely recyclable!
• Take your soft plastics back to Coles and Woolworths where they have partnered with RED Cycle who are able to recycle the plastics.
• Reuse take out containers or plastic bags to minimise your waste.

The Issue: Plastic straws

The Facts:

The very first plastic straw you ever used is still somewhere on Earth. An estimated 3.5 billion straws are thrown out per year in Australia alone.

Your Solution:

• Straws are not a necessity! Think before taking one.
• Reusable metal straws are cheap and easy to keep with you.

The Issue: Waste per household

The Facts:

11000 tonnes of un-reusable items like batteries end up in landfill per year.

Your Solution:

• Save money and the environment with writing a shopping list of the things and food you really need before you go shopping and try to stick to it.
• Have left over dinner for lunch instead of throwing it out.
• ALDI offers in store battery recycling bins.

The Issue: Waste per capita

The Facts:

The average Australian creates just over 2,000kgs of waste each year. According to The Australian Bureau of Statistics, the waste generated in Australia is growing at twice the rate of our population.

Only 1% of all items purchased are still in use six months later

Your Solution:

• Opt for products with minimal or recyclable packaging.
• Get creative and find new uses for objects that would otherwise become rubbish.
• Use reusable bags for general shopping and for your fruit and veg.
• Reusable containers for food at school eliminates the need for single-use plastic bags.