Pallara State School, together with Mt St Michael’s College, won the WasteSMART Schools Award, one of 11 awards handed out to recognise individuals and groups who have contributed to the preservation of Brisbane’s natural environment.
Pallara State School Environment Club won the WasteSMART Schools Award, together with Mt St Michael’s College, and shares in the prize pool worth $4,000.
The club, which is composed of 60 students from Year 3 to 6, holds a before-school session every Tuesday to engage in environmental activities including rostered collection of compost bins, worm farming, garden weeding and watering and plant propagation, as well as environmental art, and native animal nest box building.
Also, Pallara State School Environment Club hosts clean-up drives around the school lunch areas and sorts through campus wastes for data analysis. The Club also has a subset of students who are running projects under the guidance of Eco-Marines.
The ceremony was held on 18 November 2021 at City Hall. Brisbane City Council delivered the Awards in partnership with Brisbane Sustainability Agency.
Other category winners include:
- Councillors’ WasteSMART Choice Award – Karana Downs & Surrounds Community Garden Hub
- Brisbane WasteSMART Champions Award – Renae McBrien
- WasteSMART Community Award – Ocean Crusaders Foundation Ltd and Tarragindi Community Garden
- WasteSMART Business Award (<19 employees) – Vessel Nundah
- WasteSMART Business Award ( >20 employees) – Howard Smith Wharves
- WasteSMART Early Learning Award – Bellbowrie Early Education Centre
- Outstanding WasteSMART Award – Save Our Supplies
- People’s Choice WasteSMART Award – Mt St Michael’s College.
The finalists were judged by a panel of experts, except for the People’s Choice Awards which was determined through public voting. Mt St Michael’s College was chosen for their 5-stage plan that aimed at reducing waste at the campus including containers for change, commercial composting, compostable packaging at the canteen, co-mingled recycling, and recycling of soft plastic wastes.
Well done, Pallara State School Environment Club!