Collecting food waste to make compost

During the Climate Friendly School workshop, Team Green students decided to focus on collecting food waste and establishing a compost in term 2.

We invited Wastebusters Dr Compost to explain about compost and for some guidance on how to start: a food waste audit. We decide to collect the food waste from two classes for two weeks. It is probably not enough but we are a small group and only have 45 minutes per week!

Week One: We designed a poster, contacted teachers in charge, and sourced bins. We choose a Year 7 and a year 8 class.

Week Two: we installed the bins in the two rooms with the posters on them and talked to the teachers -who had both agreed- so that they promote their use to their students. We created a system and a roster to go and empty the bins.

Week Three: No one had emptied to bins! So we go and do this together, it is quite hard work, smelly! And cleaning the bins is also a messy business.

Week-Four: We go again to empty the bins and weigh the result:

7.5kg of food waste collected in 2 weeks from 2 classes

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Comments:

• There were no wrappers in them. That’s very good. Only one paper napkin found in 2 weeks.
• There is lots of citrus and bread
• There are many fruit stickers. And we know they do not compost.
• There is less food waste the second week than the first. Did people forget? Is it too difficult to  open the lid?
• It is difficult to wash the bins. We need a brush. And a place to empty the water with food leftovers in it. People will wash their own bins so we need to make it easy.
• A teacher comments the bin were too big for her class. So we put it out. Will we have a bucket -with lid- per class or a central bigger bin?

 

 

 

 

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MAC becoming a CLIMATE FRIENDLY SCHOOL

During a meeting with Green Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, Ralph Adler and Zella Dowling, Mount Aspiring College students have been learning about and exploring how MAC could be come a climate friendly college.

NOTES FROM THE MEETING

What is MAC already doing? What can we do better?

Saving energy

Team Green has done in the past and can resume the Switch off campaign (Make it flick stickers and posters) and the monthly Earth Hour (Period 6 Last Friday of each month).

To go further… do we actually need to turn on again after? Do we need it? This is a key phrase, in general!

At MAC, the biggest energy problem for the environment is our coal plant. We could lobby to get it changed. Write a letter to Board of Trustees, Mr Bosley, Architects, Ministry for the Environment.

And we have 8 solar panels. We want more! Continue fundraising. Ask in the letter.

Transport

Make a transport survey. Is it cool to bike? Is it cool to walk? The reward is in itself, health, cool… A hand survey in the year 9 group showed that many students already walk, bike or take the bus to school. Surely more can be done.

For the school’s trip, asking for electric vehicles. Our vehicles are second hand after local ski resorts. Asking them for electric vehicles!

Food

Encourage compartment lunchboxes, more sandwich wraps, these are opportunities for fundraisers. Resume the bring your cup deal at the canteen. https://macteamgreen.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/canteen-deal/

Waste

Team Green has installed paper recycling and recycling in the college, because it diverts lots from landfill (cheaper), because we earn trees from paper and cardboard recycling via Paper4Trees.

We yearly check it is functioning and campaign for its good use.

Improvement: Explain why? “Do I need it” campaign? Encourage electronics use. Good on one side bins. Double-sided printing by default.

“Think before you print sticker” to add at the bottom of emails

Canteen: Do they have leftovers?

School compost, also from lawn clipping.

Measure	How important	How much $$	How Easy	Action
Lights	Less important because 80% of energy is renewable	Save $$	Easy	Switch campaign, switch stickers
Travel to School	It would be important but a lot of people already bike so maybe quite good	Nothing to school – Save money for families	Each individual decision – lots of communication	Survey Calculate how much petrol this uses Find out who else has done survey already
Travel by School	Quite important	Will become cheaper but big initial cost	Not easy	Petition to Cardrona and Treble Cone so they have electric buses (Also ask for gondola for climate change)
Coal burner	Very Important	Big		Letter to BOT to ask for renewables energy and better insulation
Heat Pumps	Less important because 80% of energy is renewable	Saves money	Easy	Switch campaign, switch stickers
Waste: Paper Food Food wrappers	Quite important	Not much money	Not easy! Showing them Notices	We want compost and garden: lawn clippings, leaves, food scraps, canteen waste, food tech waste, a bit of wood ashes

Present Team Green members vote to focus on collecting food waste to a compost and perhaps make a garden for food for the canteen. We need to get the caretaker and canteen support.

To avoid having much work with the garden, we can still do compost and sell it (fundraiser!). In Dunedin, a school has a matching system who wants it who doesn’t want it.

So working on collecting food waste and establishing a compost will be Team Green focus in term 2.

Jeanette Fitzsimons at MAC

Ex-Green party co-leader, Mrs Fitzsimons came to Wanaka to talk about phasing out coal and oil during Aspiring Conversations. To make her travel worthwhile, she offered to meet students to take her important message further.

Organised by the college Academic committee, Year 9 students met 4 experts on Energy, Transport, Food and Waste, the four key contributors to climate change.

We are already in climate change, Jeanette says. Since 1992, conferences have happened to try and fix the climate, but regularly fail to set timeframes, targets and finances to make a difference. People wait for governments to acts but governments need people’s mandate to act! People can do small changes at their levels, but for a significant shift, middle level action is best. That is community groups, schools, businesses…

Working together is most effective. Our school can create a climate action plan, starting where emissions come from, mostly:

Energy – Transport- Food – Waste

Energy problems: coal burner -BIG contributor, electricity in NZ 20% is not renewable. Can do better with solar and wood.

Transport: Coming to school and school trips are to be treated separately.

Food: Where it comes from, how it is packaged. Where it is disposed? If we have much food waste in our lunchbox, maybe we need less food. Ask yourself Do I need it?

Waste: Jo from Wastebusters has noticed there is a LOT of paper in our recycling. Is it because we work really hard?! Or because we print before we thinK?

Year 9 students then spread in 4 groups to deepen their issue of interest and bounce ideas. Approx 40 students were interested in energy issues, 30 in food, 12 in waste and 8 in transport. 

Learning about waste

Debating about energy

Mrs Fitzsimons talking to Year 9 students

Sustainability at MAC: 12 years ago

In 2006 at MAC, a “Sustainability theme week” was organised for all Year 7 to 11. A range of activities was offered for students to choose from. Here is the 2006 MAC Newsletter reporting on Sustainable Week.

 

There were lots of hands on workshops including: Flax weaving, Knitting and Recycled card making;

There was a visit to Wastebusters, followed by a college Waste Audit;

A visit to the local Biodynamic winery Rippon was followed by creating a Worm farm for our staff room;

A bus was organised to a local conservation area to explore Plants and Biodiversity, learn about pests of the area, with a bush walk in the afternoon. Followed by a day to identify and count plants around the school, label them, plant some Olearia hectorii;

A House tour was organised to look at local eco houses and discuss energy conservation, then students looked at the energy consumption of the school and make signs to make people aware to conserve energy;

There was a Talk on Marine Reserves followed by a fishing outing;

There was an Intro to alternative fuel, showing of the Cool Fuel Video, demonstration of a Hybrid car and making biodiesel;

Student could choose to cook with local and “sustainable” ingredient, and calculate food kilometers;

There was a Debate on the environmental issues in our area;

There was video making, a children’s book made with amazing art, lots of posters…

The last day was a celebration and showcase of posters, an eco-living funny play, a recycled orchestra concert, a wearable art fashion show…

Everyone had great fun and talked about it years later!

Upgrading classrooms recycling

We have been busy this term upgrading the college classrooms facility.

Audit

First, we visited each class and recorded on a map how many paper bins and recycling bins there are in each room. Then we sent out a questionnaire to all teachers to record what they need.

Then we matched the existing and the needs and have to install 13 new paper bins and 4 new recycling bins.

Labels

Last week, we created and laminated labels. For the boxes, we are now waiting for the Paper4Trees bins ordered but not yet arrived.

Promote

When they arrive, we will paste the labels on them, distribute in the classrooms as required. We will do a presentation in assembly and write an an article in the newspaper to promote their use.

Fair Trade Bake Sale Success

Well done to Team Green students for their wonderful baking! $190 were raised and will go towards a fund to buy more solar panels for our college.

Exciting start of the year!

Fair Trade Bake Sale Thursday 22nd Feb at MAC

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is a Trade in which fair prices are paid to producers in developing countries, thus reducing poverty. When we buy Fair Trade chocolate, sugar, bananas or cocoa, we support farmers and promote good farming practices. It reduces poverty and helps the environment. And fair trade products taste better too!

MAC is Fair Trade school

Mount Aspiring College is a Fair Trade school since 2016. This means we learn about fair trade and promote it through out the school, the canteen uses fair trade sugar and cocoa, and we organise events with fair trade products.

First Fair Trade Bake Sale tomorrow!

We are having a fair trade bake sale tomorrow at lunchtime in the quad. Come with a few dollars: it is delicious and it helps the farmers. Yum!

All the benefits go to a fund to buy more solar panels for our college.

Brebner Bay Outlet

Last visit of the year to “our adopted outlet” as part as the Touchstone programme

We discuss that this drain is the stormwater runoff for a vast area, including zones currently in construction. We watch the drain water and observe how it contains silt that deposit in the bay. It also carries patches of white foam that will not disappear, a sign of detergent discharges.

And right in front of the drain, kids are having a bath. We also see dogs wandering, likely depositing dog poo near the water, hence fecal bacteria in the water.

What could we do to improve the situation?

We observe there is quite a large area around the drain. So instead of bringing all this runoff  water directly into the lake, the pipe could pour into a wetland that would naturally clean the water before it reaches the lake. Designing this wetland area will be our project for next year.

Fair Trade Bake Sale

On a sunny Wednesday, students hurried to get some sherbet -with fair trade sugar!-, muffins -fair trade sugar, bananas and chocolate, brownies -fair trade sugar and cocoa and even shortbread -fair trade sugar. Success! $106 more in our solar panels fund. Well done to all the bakers.

Water Monitoring

Team Green has “adopted” the Brebner Bay outlet as part of the Touchstone citizen lake monitoring project. We will take samples monthly and they will be analysed. We hope to have interesting stories to tell from the results.