In 2018, we were sending approximately 90 240L wheelie bins of general waste to landfill every week. We conducted a waste audit to identify what was going into our bins and determined that approximately 70% of it could be diverted from landfill.
This presented PBC with the opportunity to significantly reduce waste to landfill and save on our waste collection bills by rethinking the school’s approach to waste. We set out to establish a new process, educating students about the need to reduce waste and making it easier for them to separate waste streams when disposing of rubbish around the school grounds.
Waste items we could remove from landfill included:
- Co-mingled recyclables (what goes in yellow-lidded bins at home)
- 10c beverage containers
- Food waste
- E-waste
- Clean office paper
A visit to Marsden State High School showed us the ways in which they were working to collect, sort and separate waste and we were inspired to implement something similar here at PBC. We designed a new system, some new bins and applied for grants so that we could put our plan into action.