You may remember the three Rs of waste – reduce, reuse, recycle – but as the students at Jolimont Primary School found out, these days it’s all about doing GREAT things: Gifting, Recycling, Earthcycling, Avoiding and Taking.
Last term, a two-day visit from the West Metro Regional Council’s team of waste educators showed the school how they could do better than landfill and instead be GREAT sorts by adopting these behaviours.
Fun, large-scale games kept the energy high as students learned to correctly sort waste items into different bins, why composting is great for food scraps, and where to take things that can’t go into household bins.
With fast-paced activities, relay races, and giant snakes-and-ladders, even the most reluctant young recyclers were getting involved.
“The varied activities were very engaging,” said Year 4 teacher Stella Thompson, who organised the incursion with the WMRC.
“The kids loved it all. We are going to do follow-up activities in the classroom and share them with families.”
Sustainability is already embedded into school life at Jolimont Primary, which boasts a vegetable garden, worm farm and recycling station, and is in the process of becoming an accredited WasteSorted school.
“We want to empower our students to create a sustainable future, and that starts by fostering sustainability in our school,” said Principal Mrs Robyn Crump.
“The waste education days with the WMRC were a great way to help our students think critically about the objects in our lives and what happens to them once we’re finished with them.”
“This is one more piece in the puzzle that helps students see the value of their individual actions within the bigger picture.”
The WMRC’s GREAT games took out the Local Government category at last year’s WasteSorted Awards. The waste education team is available for free incursions at any primary school within its member councils (the Town of Claremont, Town of Cottesloe, Town of Mosman Park, Shire of Peppermint Grove and City of Subiaco) for Terms 2 and 3. Contact us to arrange a visit via email at community@wmrc.wa.gov.au or phone 08 9384 6711.