School fair a win for the environment

Compost is not a dirty word for these students who put sustainability first at their recent food fair

COMPOST: Sunshine Beach Primary School environmental leader Amelie adding to compost bins after the school's recent International Food Fair. Picture: Contributed

WITH a focus to be an eco-friendly school, students at Sunshine Beach Primary were recently faced with a problem for their International Food Fair.

In past years, selected vendors arrived with their food vans to set up shop, usually with single-use plastic utensils, and last year a couple of families were appalled at the amount of rubbish, especially the amount of plastic that unfortunately did not always end up in the bin.

So nearly a year later with only a few weeks before the fair, parents Caroline Kohl and Sarita decided: "We can do this, let's create a fair that works towards being plastic free, sustainable and educational.”

Sunshine Beach State School is renowned as an eco-friendly school, with its stunning grounds complementing natural surrounds.

With the assistance of the wider community, the dream became a reality.

Her daughter Amelie, one of the school's environmental leaders, encouraged all children prior to the fair to bring their own water bottles and ask their parents to bring reusable cups for coffee along with crockery and cutlery.

Plastic Free Noosa also provided invaluable tips and vendors served their food and drinks in paper plates and BioPak products.

Manned rubbish stations ensured rubbish was separated into landfill, recycling and compost.

Early the morning after the fair a small team of dedicated parents and children emptied the compost bins in the school grounds.

Amelie was delighted as whole bathtubs full of compostable rubbish was collected.

"I was so amazed how much compostable rubbish we created, but compared to the landfill rubbish it wasn't enough,” she said.

"I hope next fair it will be the other way around. It was fantastic to have the support from all the stallholders and volunteers on the day.”

Originally published as School fair a win for the environment