NC SUSTAINABILITY

NC Sustainability has been building significant momentum over the last four years (since 2018) and we have increased our membership to 88 participants (students from Year 7 to 12). Founded on the principle, Care for our Common Home (Laudato Si), the concept of embedding sustainability into everyday Nudgee College life has become imperative in the 21st century. We achieve this through the ongoing protection of our biodiversity in the Nudgee College Conservation Park as well as redefining our waste management programs. The group enables students to explore their environmental interests while working as a team, delivering a recycling program to 22 staff rooms on campus, facilitating Clean Up Australia Day as well as participating in our annual tree planting day – Arbor Day.

Biodiversity – The Nudgee College Conservation Park

Managing the Nudgee College Conservation Park is crucial regarding the surrounding natural environment. Not only do students benefit through educational opportunities but the wider school community gets to enjoy this unique area. While many efforts go by unseen, there is always a plethora of action from many departments in and around the park. A special thanks to Mr Trent Palmer and the Year 12 ITS students who successfully built seven nest boxes for our Conservation Park to help sustain our sugar glider population. Additionally, a big thank you to Mr Lachlan Woodcroft from Agricultural Science who has also been active in monitoring our fox problem in the conservation area. We are working closely with the Brisbane City Council again to continually manage the pest.

Arbor Day

We celebrated the 131st Arbor Day on Tuesday 12 October. Nudgee College participated in the annual tree-planting event on Wednesday 13 October with 17 students continuing to increase the diversity and density of native plants in our Regeneration Garden.

Celebrated around the world, Arbor Day is traditionally a day for planting trees for shade as well as educating students about the importance of trees. Planting native trees contributes to the health of our environment and our communities in a variety of ways. Our goals are to: produce oxygen, filter pollution, and clean the air; provide a food source and homes for native wildlife, and help prevent soil erosion on hillsides and creek banks by slowing run-off and holding soil in place.

Waste Management

On Friday 5 March, the NC Sustainability team participated in Clean Up Australia Day. Every year, Clean Up Australia Day inspires and empowers communities to clean up, fix up and conserve our environment. With 45 participating Senior students, it marked one of the largest Nudgee College clean ups since NC Sustainability’s initiation in 2018. Students from Years 7 to 12 volunteered their lunch time to collect rubbish from various locations around the school, including Ross Oval, Mt Zion and Tierney Auditorium. Moreover, 12 Junior School CORE classes also participated during Period 6. Their enthusiasm was outstanding as they meticulously scoured the Junior School, searching for every piece of rubbish.

Samuel Rogers, Co-Captain

The 2021 campaign has been a successful one for the waste department. The induction of the Pulpmaster 6000, which converts waste into useful fertiliser, was able to produce 60,000 litres of food compost for the boarder’s kitchen. Through the Containers for Change program, 40,000 plastic drink containers were prevented from resulting in waste and 47 tonnes of scrap metal was diverted from landfill from the Treacy Heritage Precinct redevelopment including aluminium, copper and stainless steel. Additionally, more than 38 tonnes of cardboard and paper have been re-diverted over the past four months as the NC Sustainability team continues to recycle throughout the College.

Jameson Jameson, Co-Captain

WRITTEN BY TEACHER IN CHARGE OF SUSTAINABILITY MR ANDREW HOOK