Plastic is Drastic – Soft Plastic Collection

2016, WARRNAMBOOL, VIC, Australia

In 2016 Warrnambool Special Development School (WSDS) students Destiny, Zander, Caleb and Caleb placed in the final competition for their proposal Plastic is Drastic. They saw that they could make a bigger difference in the recycling of plastics at their school by putting strategies in place to dispose of ALL plastics in a sustainable way.

In Australia we use around 5 billion plastic bags each year. 150 million of these in up littering our environment harming our waterways and our wildlife (Clean-up Australia Day).

WSDS has always recycled hard plastic, such as plastic bottles and yogurt containers but soft plastics always went to land fill, such as plastic wrap and plastic bags. The students did some research and found there was a local business that collects these ‘soft plastics’ for recycling and re-use.

As a result the school has put the following policies in place indefinitely to help reduce plastic going to landfills and into the environment:

Educating students and teachers in the school about the damage that plastic can cause when dumped into landfill polluting not only our water catchment but our oceans too.
Continue to discourage the use of plastic through regular rubbish free lunch days, promoting the use of re-useable plastic containers in lunchboxes and promote rubbish free foods, clearly labeled bins in each classroom and the introduction of the ‘Recycled Scarecrow’ competition.
Implement a soft plastic collection throughout WSDS via 3 central locations around the school where each class can take their soft plastic at the end of each week. While at the end of each term the bags of soft plastic are collected from each location and taken to a local collection centre where they are compressed and then taken to another location for recycling and re use.
Encourage and advise families in our school to minimize the use of plastic in the home and how to dispose of it in a sustainable way when they do have it via our school newsletter.
Inform the wider community that ‘Plastic is Drastic’ through ‘Kids Teaching Kids’ days in Warrnambool, so far taking our message to 6 other schools in our catchment. We conduct two workshops called ‘Plastic is Drastic’ watching an iMovie about why plastic is drastic and making ‘recycled scarecrows’ using plastic we collect that would go to landfill otherwise.

The students believe these are really easy strategies to implement in any school and encourage all schools to follow suit.

Food Wastage

2016, KANIVA, VIC, Australia

Remmi and Tavie from Kaniva College placed in the top 10 of all the entries submitted in the Australian competition of Caring for our Watersheds with their proposal about wasting food. They wanted to reduce organic food going to landfill and thought the best way to so in their community would be through education.

Remmi and Tavie discovered that amazingly, the average Australian household wastes up to 345kg of food a year, most of this ending up in landfill. At the same time, when organic food rots in landfill it creates methane, a harmful gas to us and the environment.

They figured if they reached out to their local community via their school classrooms they could directly influence 250 households with the potential to reduce 86,250kg of food going to landfill. This is a huge number and this is just our small community; the project could definitely grow bigger and go into other parts of our catchment.

The idea was to create a fun comic to teach people the facts about wasting food, through the costs both economically and to the environment. This comic was linked into the cooking classes at the school. These were specialized classes teaching students how they can save food from going to landfill by giving them ideas about how to use left overs and create shopping lists so less food goes to waste. Sending this comic home with them after the class ensures the message gets taken home to their families.

Eco-Friendly Dry Erase Markers

international_dry-erase-markers In researching her Caring for our Watersheds project, Katelyn discovered a starting fact about her school’s use of dry erase whiteboard markers; “My school goes through approximately 1570 markers within a 10 month period.” That’s 1570 markers going in the trash each year. Given that these markers “are plastic, toxic, and non-recyclable” Katelyn saw the need to make a change to “prevent and lower the amount of chemicals making their way into the Lake Winnipeg watershed.”

#KanivaWater

2016, KANIVA, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

In 2014 Kaniva College students Louise, Jaden, Duncan and Luke took first place in the final competition for their proposal #KanivaWater. Since then, Louise and Jaden have been working tirelessly to put their idea into action. Their idea consists of providing their town with free, fresh drinking water to reduce the amount of plastic bottles purchased by the local community and visitors.

Kaniva is known as a highway town. Located on route between Melbourne and Adelaide, thousands
of people pass through Kaniva each day using this small country town as a rest stop. The students saw this as an opportunity to help the community and visitors reduce their impact on the environment by helping them to reduce or even stop buying plastic bottles.

Bottling water produces 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, and it takes 3L of water to produce just 1L of bottled water. Additionally, 2015 figures showed over 40% of litter picked up throughout clean up Australia Day was plastic.

Until now Kaniva had no free potable water in town, so the only option for the community or visitors was to purchase bottled water.To address this issue, a water filter and fountain were installed on already established rainwater tanks at the Purple Starfish on Kaniva’s main street. After numerous tests by community partner GWM Water, Louise and Jaden officially opened the #KanivaWater fountain on November 2^nd 2016.

Their project has also been set up to educate people about this important issue and solution via social media, hence the # in the title. You can continue to follow their journey on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter by searching for #KanivaWater.

COMPREHENSIVE E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
E-Waste Management image
In response to the growing issue of e-waste, Sam Haward from Wyoming High School decided to create a solution that extends the lifetime of old electronics while also ensuring that the entire device will be recycled once it’s lifespan has ended. The plan would first be implemented on a small scale through the Wyoming’s science department, first creating a small array of devices running the BOINC program, an app that connects these devices to supercomputers across the globe. By doing this, various supercomputers running data like Oxford University’s Global Climate Change Model can save energy and time by using client devices rather than generating number in one place.

Sam would donate the devices that cannot support BOINC to the HopeLine program, which supports victims of domestic violence. The arrays of BOINC devices could potentially be made completely self-sufficient over time by utilizing solar power, and interest generated by the small scale arrays can influence students across the county to donate their used electronics rather than leaving them to gather dust or throwing them away. In this way, these devices will find a new life, aiding scientific research, conserving and protecting the environment, while also freeing up space around the house too!

IT TAKES CHILDREN TO MOTIVATE A VILLAGE

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Motivate a village
Jaye Johnson and Madeleine Johnson of Wyoming High School proposed to create a picture book that tells a story based in caring for the local Mill Creek. In this story, a personified Mill Creek leads children through the habits they can incorporate into their daily life that will rejuvenate the habitats, services, and beauty the creek provides. It will be written and illustrated by Wyoming students to inspire a sense of self-esteem in the community while also creating a space for conversation and action in the school.

By catering to children with this book, they may be inspired to play outside or create changes as they grow up in their environment. This book will pioneer a love of learning about and maintenance of the Mill Creek Watershed. The passion and wonder of children fosters good habits and a genuine appreciation of the world, motivates the adults in their lives, and shapes their actions in their futures in adulthood.

IMPROVING THE MILL CREEK WATERSHED BY LAWN FERTILIZATION EDUCATION

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Lawn Fertilization Education
Over the past several years, the Mill Creek Watershed Council created the program called Healthy Lawns, Healthy Waters to help educate residents in Cincinnati about the impacts of over fertilization of lawns in the area. Gabriela Okhuysen and Nora Davis from Wyoming High School want to broaden the horizons of participation in this program. The girls want to enhance training aids, enlist volunteers, and overall engage with educating their local community. After conducting soil tests of their own lawns, they discovered that there were at double the optimum levels of phosphorus and magnesium. It was clear to Gabriela and Nora that if residents knew of the resources available to them, they would be able to help improve their watershed.

For their project, they group proposed to hold a community meeting to demonstrate the soil sample process and invite local experts to explain the harmful effects of over fertilization. They would encourage high school volunteers to support soil sampling efforts and follow up with residents as their test results come in. By asking local volunteers and enlisting support from the Mill Creek Council and the Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District, they expect residents would be more willing and determined to obtain the results and change their fertilization regimens.

Gabriela and Nora believe that starting with local residents and changing their fertilization lawn habits will lead to a cleaner and healthier community and watershed. They aim to inspire their community by showing how minor adjustments can make a huge impact on their local environment.

GREEN “GUTTERS”

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Green Gutters
Sycamore High School suffers from a poor drainage system, with runoff from the roofs falling down onto the school grounds without the help of gutters, and Nate Halstead, Jessica Wei, and Dani Abramovitz wanted to change that. They proposed the implementation of a green wall, which would prevent excess water collection on the school grounds as there are many unutilized exterior walls which do not have adequate gutters.

The runoff from the school goes into the Little Miami watershed, which is notorious for flooding during the excessive amounts of rain the region receives. To lessen the impact of the excess water damage on the western wall of the school building, the group implemented a system of greenery on the brick walls. The plants were selected to best benefit the watershed, as the redirection of the roof’s drainage through the plants will act as the gutter, filtering the runoff while also adding a modern touch to the traditional school building. By providing a natural buffer for Stormwater from directly entering storm drains, the wall will serve to improve the general health of the watershed while increasing the natural beauty to the school that the community can enjoy.

WETLAND FLORA CONSTRUCTION

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Wetland Flora Construction
Jared Bulla, Josh Rademacher, Logan Bush, and Justin Zhou of the Summit Country Day School wanted to help alleviate the problem of overabundant chemicals in the Little Miami River. This local river feeds into East Fork Lake, which in recent years has shown an increase in nitrogen and phosphate levels, resulting in algal blooms. The Valley View Foundation is working to create an area of wetlands that would serve as a natural drainage system for wastewater before it went into the Little Miami. The group’s project was then to ensure that the proper floras were planted in the wetlands to maximize the uptake of chemicals by plants.

The boys selected reeds, iris, and cattails as the primary plants due to their winter hardiness and affordability. They are effective in removing excess phosphorus and do well on their own after planting. The implementation of this program would be significant, as it would reduce the number of algal blooms in East Fork Lake. By choosing plants for the wetland that would do the most good, Jared, Josh, Logan, and Justin hope that they will be able to create a noticeable impact in their area.

AUTOMATIC FLUSHERS: TIME TO SAVE WATER

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Automatic Flushers
Bennett Heyn was concerned by how much water Sycamore High School’s automatic flush toilets and urinals were wasting. Looking at the men’s restrooms specifically, with each “phantom flush” of a toilet 1.5 gallons of water were wasted alongside an additional 0.5 gallon per urinal. To create a solution to this problem, Bennett decided he would need to purchase additional sensors for the bathroom. These mirror devices attach to the automatic sensors, but require the user to hold their hands in front of it for a few seconds in order to activate the flush.

Installing four new sensors would save around 5,830 gallons of water per year, and a small start could lead to more being installed down the road. This project would benefit the environment by preserving the amount of natural water in it. Bennett’s high school would be reducing their water bill while also keeping the Little Miami Watershed clean. This project would be a great start for larger changes Sycamore could make down the road.