Enviroschools programmes across Otago are having positive impacts on not only the students but schools have saved money, created opportunities and brought communities together, Otago Regional Council (ORC) has reported.

By making simple choices around products which could end up in landfill or be recycled, schools can take several positives out of the programmes, ORC Enviroschools regional coordinator lead Leisa de Klerk says.

“Rubbish, even when there is good recycling happening, is a financial cost to schools for storage, transport and disposal. Reducing waste is a simple way to decrease expenses,” she said.

Enviroschools in Otago reaches almost 25,000 young people from Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres to high schools every year, who benefit from relationships between the nationwide Enviroschools programme and local city, district and regional councils.

Leisa said these relationships are the direct link councils have to create long term environmental change that supports schools’ curriculum, while also lessening financial burdens and creating systemic change through their own communities.

These and other environmental issues are highlighted in numerous Enviroschools hui with schools across Otago every year, where students gain hands-on experience and skills in a number of initiatives, many of which become on-going projects, she said.

Leisa said Enviroschools are seeing less litter in their school grounds, spending less on rubbish disposal, there is less external rubbish being dumped at the schools, and parents are making more conscious and healthier choices about lunchbox food.

Enviroschools participants start small, by getting students to take their lunch rubbish home with them, she said.

“Many schools have found that when students bring home their rubbish, parents are less likely to choose items for the lunchbox that creates a mess,” Leisa said.

“All it takes is one half-eaten yoghurt pottle to come home in a lunch box for parents to start to rethink their choices. Yoghurt pottles are not recyclable so they just end up in landfill, but it’s the user in this example who deals with the end product, not the school.”

For schools with their own composting, these choices also support their environmental goals and school-wide curriculum.

Many Enviroschools have their own community gardens, or collaborate with their local community garden to support young people learning how to grow their own food.

Councils across Otago reap the benefit of these relationships and in reaching their own strategic goals through their partnership with Enviroschools at a regional, district or city level, she said

“Enviroschools is in its twenty second year and has evolved to become a true partnership between councils, communities and schools,” Leisa said.

The Enviroschools kaupapa supports a healthy, peaceful, sustainable world through learning and taking action together and with almost 25,000 students (in 88 schools and 12 early childhood cetres) across Otago, the programme continues to grow.

Enviroschools is a nationwide programme supported by Toimata Foundation and founding partner Te Mauri Tau, with a large national network of 15 regional partners. 

PHOTO: Supplied