Our Stories
Managing waste with Eco Bins
2 minutes read18 October 2024
Red, green, yellow, blue? We've all grappled with what goes in which coloured bin. The eco-leaders at Oscar Romero Catholic Primary School are on a mission to create a lasting impact for their school and community.
Bank First is proud to support Oscar Romero Catholic Primary School's efforts through our Teaching Initiatives Program (TIP). The school's TIP grant has allowed for the purchase of 28 sets of Eco-Bins: one for each classroom and common area.
Steven Pettenon, Teacher Sustainability Leader, found that many students weren't putting rubbish in the correct bins. 'Often, everything is put into one waste bin and the rubbish all ends up going to landfill. It’s not easy when there isn’t clear signage.'
Student Sustainability Leader Cassie said 'The current wheelie bins are quite spread out, so people would rather put rubbish in the bins closest to them than the correct bin. We’re putting eco-bins into the classrooms, so people put rubbish in the correct bins'.
Each set of Eco-Bins are clearly labelled, to separate landfill waste, mixed recycling, paper or cardboard and organic food waste. 'Purchasing these smaller, colour coded Eco-Bins was a solution that we thought would work. When we heard about Bank First’s TIP program, we jumped on it and were thankfully successful,' said Steven.
For the school’s student sustainability leaders, the project also provides an opportunity to grow their leadership skills. Student leaders are currently working on posters and presentations to introduce the program to their peers.
'As sustainability leaders, we’re here to make our waste management better. There’s currently a lot of litter, so our job is to make our school more sustainable,' said Diyenka.
Steven is confident that their messaging will connect with students; 'we're making the messages comical and entertaining, so the children retain the information'.
While the sets of bins are a practical solution to the school's waste issue, Steven hopes that it also lays the groundwork for years of sustainability to come. 'Hopefully it trickles on to doing the right thing at home more, and then into high school and beyond'.
'To help the environment, we need to manage our waste and do whatever we can,' said Cassandra.
Oscar Romero Catholic Primary School is also establishing a Green Team, who organised a bottle recycling program earlier this year. 'The students absolutely loved it. They felt like they weren’t just doing something good for our school but also part of something bigger.'
'There is so much potential in our school to be a part of these positive changes, we just needed the support in place to make it possible,' said Steven.
Through TIP, Bank First is proud to support Oscar Romero Catholic Primary School to reach their sustainability goals.