Students audit school’s waste

Students from a Marlborough high school took their waste into their own hands this week, going through the college bins in order to propose a solution to the school.

As part of a project for their environmental sustainability class, Marlborough Girls College students Shannon McLean, Micheala Stanton and Kitty Iamsuree decided to conduct a school-wide waste audit.

With help from Waste Management Marlborough and student volunteers, the girls went through 33 school bins on Tuesday – not even half of three days worth of rubbish – after noticing a waste problem in the college.

‘‘There’s quite a lot of rubbish around our gardens, which is what made me want to do this,’’ said Year 13 student Stanton.

McLean said an audit was needed to know what they were dealing with, and what needed to change. The college only recycled cardboard, and all other waste went directly to landfill.

‘‘It was really important to identify what type of waste we have so that we can implement the best system,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s for us to show statistics so that we can back our claims.’’

The results? A lot of hand towels, with nearly three full bins at the end of the audit. They also found a lot of food waste – many half eaten butter chicken wraps, a popular choice at the canteen – recyclable plastic bottles, and an entire heater.

‘‘At the moment, what we’re paying for is everything to go to landfill instead of this sorting to happen, which is why we think it’s important that we’re doing this,’’ McLean said.

After a few hours of going through the bins, the girls thought the school could implement recycling for paper, and a better compost system.

Iamsuree also suggested the canteen could wash out recyclable plastic containers for students, so that they could be recycled without contamination.

‘‘Now what we do now is just chuck it in the bin and it’s actually not doing much,’’ she said.

While the audit itself was ‘‘pretty gross’’, the girls said they were also shocked by how much food was wasted.

‘‘It’s kind of disgusting to think how much food goes to waste,’’ McLean said.

SCOTT HAMMOND/ STUFF Marlborough Girls College students Tamara Livingstone (year 9), Neha Jat (year 9) and Shannon McLean (year 13) went through the school bins on Tuesday to look for waste solutions.