Enviroschools Regional Coordinator Lead, Leisa de Klerk says by making simple choices around products which could end up in landfill or be recycled, schools can take several positives out of the programs.

“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 says.

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

Mrs de Klerk says these relationships are the direct link which councils have to create long term environmental change in the education space 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.

Mrs de Klerk says Enviroschools have found they are seeing less litter in their school grounds, spending less on rubbish disposal, less external rubbish being dumped at the schools, and that parents are making more conscious and healthier choices about lunchbox food. 

“With the new green-lidded compost bins now more easily accessible in Dunedin, more parents are choosing unpackaged fruit and vegetables which can be composted through curbside collections,” she says.

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

“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,” Mrs de Klerk says.

“All it takes is one half-eaten yoghurt pottle to come home in a lunch box for parents to start to rethink their choices,” says Mrs de Klerk, 

“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 who have 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.

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

The Enviroschools kaupapa supports a healthy, peaceful, sustainable world through learning and taking action together and with almost 25,000 students across Otago, the program only 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. Across the country there are more than 1000 schools involved and more than 450 early childhood centres, while in Otago there are a total 88 schools and 12 early childhood centres participating.