Tree Day adds to waste hub project A FEW years ago, encouraged by living on a green and clean King Island, some teachers and students at the King Island District High School started the ‘Green Team.’
Considering the small population, and that a full recycling system was too costly for the King Island Council, the students decided to start collection bins for glass bottles so they wouldn’t end up in landfill.
Last week the collection efforts were extended and the new recycle hub was opened.
“Sharon Lee from the Enrichment Program suggested we use the old bus shelter that is not used very often,” art teacher and Green Team leader, Samuel Winckel said.
“We thought it’s a good idea to set up a recycling hub.
“It’s for really specific things to recycle, not just your glass and your cans – they’ll get sent off to North West Tasmania and be recycled.
“There’s a whole bunch of different things that can get recycled that generally just get chucked in the bin or the tip.”
Students now collect beauty products, mobile phones, laptops, small batteries, printer cartridges and many more small E-Waste items that can be recycled using the new hub. Students can bring small items from home and drop them off on their way to school.
“The public, in general, responds very well to the collection hub,” Mr Winckel said.
“The collection bins are always full. We always have to get them emptied. There’s a few around town as well that fill up very quickly.”
To make the collection hub a bit greener, the students planted shrubs around it.
“We received 100 shrubs from Sustainable Timbers Tasmania,” Mr Winckel said.
“With their National Tree Day, they supplied almost as many trees as you wanted for free.
“We went for shrubs over trees because trees can get a bit big.
“We just wanted some big shrubs just to fill big areas of the school that need a bit of covering.”
The students are very enthusiastic about the Green Team program.
“Almost the whole school is in the green team,” Mr Winckel added.
“They also learn a lot, for example, there are a lot of precious minerals and metals and similar in our E-waste and our mobile phones.
“The students encourage their parents to help to keep the environment clean and green and to use the hub.”