Eco tips at school

Printing and photocopying
 
Encourage your school to print on both sides of paper. This can halve   the amount of paper your school uses, which saves trees. If people aren’t sure how to print double-sided, offer to make some easy-to-understand instructions to stick up next to your school’s printers and photocopiers.

Encourage your school to use 100 per cent recycled paper and ask them to ensure   the paper is chlorine-free (the use of chlorine to bleach paper releases toxics into our environment).

To make it easy for your school, conduct some research and recommend some paper brands to the person who orders paper for your school.

Hint: Before switching to a new brand of paper, your school office should experiment with a small quantity of paper in photocopiers, printers and fax machines to ensure the paper is compatible with school equipment.

In the toilets
 
Talk with your school about buying 100 per cent recycled and chlorine free toilet   paper. Hint: If you conduct some research regarding available brands you will make   it easy for your school to switch to a greener alternative.

In the playground
 
Set up a compost heap with your class and watch your food scraps turn into beautiful, rich, healthy soil. Get your science teacher involved. They can research how   to create a perfect compost mixture and explain to the class why it works. Composting is a skill you can also use in your garden while also reducing the amount of waste you send to landfill.
 
Start an anti-litter campaign at your school. Have a brainstorm and think of creative ways you can get your school cleaned up.

If you see any unattended taps, bubblers or hoses running, save a drop and turn them off! If a tap continues to drip even when you turn it off, tell a teacher.

You may like to talk with your teacher about designing some creative signs in art class to remind everyone to turn taps off.

Native plants which have always grown in Australia are used to our climate. They need less water than species from other parts of the world. Save water by planting natives in your playground. They also give our native animals and insects shelter.

For inspiration, suggest an excursion to a national park to look at native plants in the bush. Ask your local nursery what plants are native to your area. Take photos when you plant your new native gardens so you can see how much they grow over time.

In school buildings
 
Encourage your school to buy energy efficient appliances. They save the school   money and reduce energy use, which is good for our climate. To find out how our energy use contributes to climate change (the greenhouse effect), visit our climate section.

Ask school cleaners to use environmentally friendly cleaning products.

At the canteen

Ask your school canteen to stock food which does not contain genetically engineered (GE) ingredients. Provide the canteen with a copy of the True Food Guide, a small booklet with information on brands that are GE-free. For more information,  visit www.truefood.org.au

Check out the food packaging in your canteen. If the packaging is excessive (like plastic wrapped biscuits in carboard trays within a cardboard box) it could be time to shop for some tasty alternatives that rely on less wrapping.

On the way to school

If we can reduce the number of cars on the road, we will reduce air pollution and help stop climate change. So catch a bus, train or ferry to school. If that’s not possible, catch a lift with school friends’ parents. Even better, walk or ride a bike and get some exercise too!