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Te Kuru o Puhinui Warkworth School held its first-ever zero-waste event in conjunction with its annual walkathon.
Building on its impressive achievement of reducing landfill waste by 72 per cent over the past year, the school is continuing to minimise its impact on the environment.
After completing the walkathon, students enjoyed ice blocks donated by Mason Contractors. However, this year, the packaging and sticks didn’t head to landfill. Thanks to zero-waste event bins provided by Mahurangi Wastebusters, the school transformed what could have been waste into resources.
The wooden sticks were washed and stored for reuse in maths, art and garden projects. The cardboard boxes were shredded and added to the school’s thriving onsite composting system, and the soft plastic wrappers were collected in a dedicated bin and sent for recycling.
“When the students were told we would be reusing the sticks and recycling the wrappers, you could see the connections being made. They absolutely understood,” a Year 6 teacher said.
The event diverted 3.6 kilograms of waste from landfill and inspired students to think critically about their role in waste reduction.
Mahurangi Wastebusters education facilitator Rachel Lampen said the school was not only making an impact on waste-to-landfill, but was also instilling lifelong values of sustainability in its students.
