Auckland schools show they are WasteWise

21 September 2010

Five Auckland schools are the first to graduate from a two year programme to cut down on the waste they send to landfill.

The WasteWise Schools programme is coordinated by the Auckland Regional Council in partnership with all the other councils in the region.  It is currently running in 47 schools across Auckland. 

The programme offers support, resources and curriculum initiatives to the schools.

Bronwyn Smith, WasteWise Schools’ Regional Coordinator, says that in order to graduate, the schools had to introduce and maintain systems to reduce their ecological footprint as well as learn why this is important.

“We want students to think for themselves and come up with solutions for their schools. This can include composting, recycling or choosing food with less packaging. Schools were hugely innovative. One school even managed to reduce their waste to landfill by 92 per cent,” says Ms Smith.

The five schools graduating in the coming weeks are Bailey Road School Mt Wellington; Churchill Park School, Glendowie; Diocesan School for Girls (secondary), Epsom; St Francis School, Pt Chevalier and Morningside Kindergarten, Morningside.  All these schools are in Auckland city and their WasteWise programmes were funded by Auckland City Council.

“Each of the schools showed they were taking their whole school on the WasteWise Schools’ journey and will continue it into the future. The valuable knowledge can then be taken with students through life.  This is a very forward looking programme,” says Ms Smith.

Any school can apply for the two year WasteWise Schools programme, for more details contact Bronwyn.smith@arc.govtnz or phone 09 366 2000 x8323

ENDS

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