Supermarket giant rewards students for sustainability efforts

St Brigid’s Catholic School in Evanston has been named as a winner of the Coles Sustainability4Schools competition.

St Brigid’s Primary School students Ella, 11, Hannah, 11, Caleb, 12 and Samuel, 11, celebrate their newly donated Buddy Bench from Coles. Picture: Russell Millard.

STUDENTS at St Brigid’s Catholic School in Evanston are sitting proud after being named as a winner of the Coles Sustainability4Schools competition.

With the motto “Care for Our Environment,” the school is committed to taking action to reduce, reuse and recycle all waste materials.

A five-bin system has been implemented to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill, while foods scraps go into tumblers to make compost which is put into garden beds.

The students also plant vegetables for the Community Service children to make soups for Fred’s Van to help those in need.

As a reward for their efforts, the school is now the proud owner of a new Buddy Bench, donated by supermarket giant Coles to mark its 10-year anniversary with soft plastics recycling organisation REDcycle.

St Brigid’s is just one of eight schools in South Australia and 81 across the country to receive the benches, made from 98 per cent recyclable materials, in recognition of their sustainability initiatives.

“Students sort through our soft plastics, bag them and take a 15-minute walk to Coles Gawler Green once a term to deliver our collection to the REDcycle bin drop-off point,” St Brigid’s science teacher Stella Harms said.

“The flow-on from this is having children and families tell you that they are recycling their soft plastics and food scraps at home, too.”