Green Team pods help school recycle right

Published on 18 November 2021

A Lake Mac school’s innovative idea to install recycling ‘pods’ across its campus has landed it a coveted environmental award.

Dudley Public School was one of eight winners in this year’s Lake Macquarie School Environment Awards, taking out the ‘Waste’ category for introducing the pods, with separate bins for food waste, soft plastics, comingled recycling and general waste.

School Principal Kris Carey said Year 6 students had also created a ‘Green Team’ to devise and implement new sustainability practices across the school, resulting in a significant reduction in waste going to landfill.

“Students have been incredibly enthusiastic,” she said.

“We had so many volunteers for the Green Team that we had to limit it to Year 6 students this year, but I’m sure most students would be involved if they could.”

Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser congratulated Dudley Public School students and staff, as well as other category winners.

“The quality and variety of projects submitted for consideration as part of this year’s awards shows how passionate younger people in our city are about the environment and sustainability,” Cr Fraser said.

“These are our future community leaders, and it’s so important to instil in them an awareness of these issues affecting us all.”

This year’s overall high school winner was St Mary’s Catholic College, while Hillsborough Public School took out the overall primary school category.

Cr Fraser said both schools had implemented successful programs to save energy and reduce waste.

“Lake Mac schools have been working hard to reduce waste by promoting low-waste lunches, conducting waste audits and introducing recycling programs,” she said.

This year’s awards were sponsored by Hunter Resource Recovery, Delta Electricity, Centennial Coal and Sanitarium.

2021 Lake Macquarie School Environment Awards winners