From the Sustainability Captains

From the Sustainability Captains, Yasmin Surman-Schmidt and Josh Kingston

Hello Radford community

Our names are Yasmin and Josh, and we are Radford College’s Sustainability Captains for 2022. We are Year 12 students with a passion for protecting our environment and educating others on how they can be more sustainable.

In our role as Sustainability Captains, we sit on Radford College's Sustainability Committee and provide a point of connection between the Committee and students.

We frequently talk with students about the Committee's endeavours and present information about how they can live more sustainably. The position of Sustainability Captain was introduced to our college this year and while we are nearing the end of the year, we still wish to make ourselves and our position known.

We made a video with the goal of educating students on proper bin usage. The video was played at a Secondary School assembly. [Video sits in NEXUS]

In this assembly video, we met with Mr Craig Webber, who is Radford College’s Facilities Manager. Each week, Mr Webber and his team empty 40-45 Secondary School bins. These bins are categorised into:

• general waste (green bins)
• recycling (yellow top bins)
• paper recycling (blue bins).

Each day, filled bins are emptied and their contents are taken to Radford’s waste transfer station. A garbage truck collects waste from Radford’s waste transfer station daily. This garbage collection costs Radford around $11,000 a month.

Unfortunately, this high cost is due to students incorrectly using the bins across the school grounds. At our college, 99% of “recycling” cannot be recycled due to contamination. Full bags of recycling are having to be thrown into general waste, due to the unfortunate decisions of some students. It is imperative that students use the bins correctly. Not only will correct bin usage reduce the cost associated with garbage collection, but it will also enable the college to properly recycle and do our part in protecting our environment.

The College is working closely with its cleaning provider to introduce ways to improve recycling across the College.