Environment – 31 October 2019

I have been very fortunate to be selected as this year’s Environment Captain. Carrying on the work from last year, the Environmental Action Group and I have accomplished projects around the school.

At the start of the year, printers were replaced with carbon neutral printers and ink toners; this alone was more efficient than the old printers and is a worthwhile upgrade for the College.

With the installation of solar panels at all three campuses, our carbon footprint has been significantly reduced. At the Beaconsfield Campus alone, we have saved over 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide – Enough fuel to travel 152,418 kilometres!

We also focused on the issue of waste within the College. In partnership with Simply Cups, we initiated a coffee cup recycling program. This program aims to close the loop and repurpose the cups into new products. We have successfully diverted 1,000 cups this year! A fantastic effort by all who contributed!

The Environment group also hosted our first Environment awareness week. This consisted of many activities, with a coffee stall and the team wearing t-shirts that promote the use of Ecosia – an online search engine that plants trees! All these steps, whilst they may be small, all add up to becoming a greener sustainable school. At the end of August, the group planted eight fruit trees ranging from plums to avocados. These trees will be able to bear fruit for the College to use.

The hard work and dedication by the team has not gone unnoticed. I would like to thank Mr Monk for his time and effort for helping me with countless emails and hours gone into making the St Francis Xavier College community a better place. Most importantly, thanks to the environment team members that helped with the many projects and meetings all throughout the year. Without their support projects like these would have not been accomplished!

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