Kiama High School Top Of The Class For Sustainability

Education Minister Rob Stokes and Member for Kiama Gareth Ward visited Kiama High School today to learn more about the school’s new sustainability program.

Kiama High School partnered with ABC TV’s War on Waste program to assess its environmental impact and improve sustainability at the school.

“Kiama High School is one of NSW’s pin up schools for sustainability,” Mr Stokes said.

“It’s fantastic to visit a school community that is so committed to reducing their environmental footprint and making so many small changes that have had such a tangible impact.”

Through a series of initiatives the school cut its waste going to landfill in half, saving up to $800 a month in waste management fees.

Mr Ward said the 47 students in the ‘Waste Warriors’ group should be commended for their work.

“Kiama High School is now mentoring other schools to help them in their own War on Waste initiatives,” Mr Ward said.

The key steps that Kiama High School took to improve sustainability included:

• Collecting bottles and cans for the Government’s Return and Earn scheme.
• Conducted a waste audit of a week’s worth of waste.
• Changed their waste management provider to Cleanaway. This allowed the school to implement commingle recycling and food recycling in the school.
• Purchased new bins for the school playground, staffrooms and classrooms (paper/cardboard, commingle recycling, landfill and food organics).
• Acquired an e-waste recycling bin from Reverse E-Waste.
• Sustainability education for the school community including students and staff.
• Overhauled packaging in the canteen, including a reduction of packaging and a move towards compostable and recyclable packing.
• Promoted and implemented Trash-Free Thursdays to reduce single-use packaging in the school.
• Installed zero waste boxes to recycle items not traditionally recycled such as coffee pods, office supplies and beauty products.
• Installed a Battery World recycling bin.
• Installed hand dryers to reduce paper towel use.

The school visit comes two days after Mr Stokes launched a new Environmental Design in Schools Guide that provides school communities with practical examples of how they can become more sustainable.

The guide is a new resource for NSW school communities that are looking to make sustainable changes in the building or running of their schools. It includes practical strategies for improving sustainability and case studies from NSW public schools.

To view the guide, visit: www.governmentarchitect.nsw.gov.au/guidance/environmental-design-in-schools.