Reducing the waste footprint in your school tuckshop: Simple steps with big impacts
Interested in doing more to manage waste in your school tuckshop? There are many ways that tuckshops produce waste, but the good news is that you can do a lot to reduce yours. Here are some simple ideas to get you started.
Placement of bins around the school is important for effective composting and recycling. Identify your coalition of the willing: all it takes is a few like-minded people with a shared passion and you will be able to make changes school-wide, starting from within the tuckshop. Find out if your school has student Environment Leaders who can help you implement your sustainability practices in the tuckshop: from taking the compost bin to the heap for you, to checking that students are using the correct bin and monitoring food waste, these students can be your allies. Recruit some staff members to help spread the message about reducing food and general waste around the school.
Find out how your local Council can help. Brisbane schools can apply for a Brisbane City Council Environmental Educator to visit your school to run a waste and recycling program for students. Outside of Brisbane, check in with your local Council to see what they can offer. Need some funds to get started? Local and State Government offer grants periodically throughout the year. They are advertised widely when they open, or you can check in with the Queensland Government website. Consider what you as the convenor can do personally to run your tuckshop more sustainably. When doing this, take into account what sustainability priorities will need the support of the school principal or parent body and schedule a meeting to discuss them. The little steps you take every day will add up over the course of a school year and lead to big savings for the planet as well as the tuckshop budget.
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TALK I N G T UCKSHOPS | TERM 1, 2024
