Our Daily Waste launches Recycling System Pilot at
Heathcote Valley and Lyttelton Primary Schools – Thursday 19th May, 2016
Canterbury recycling consultancy Our Daily Waste is working with Enviroschools Canterbury to install a pilot recycling
system into Heathcote Valley Primary School, and the newly merged and rebuilt Lyttelton Primary School. The launches are
due to take place on Thursday 19th May at Lyttelton School (10.20am) and Heathcote Valley School (12.30pm) to coincide with break times.
The confusion around recycling has been in the news a lot recently and although schools have robust education programmes
the message is not often backed up by playground practices. For Dr. Sharon McIver, owner-operator of Our Daily Waste,
the funding granted by sustainable funds trust SIFT to purchase fully signed 240l bin lids, meant there was the
opportunity for a school pilot, and the first person she called was Brett Partel, the property manager for both schools
who McIver had met in 2013 at an Enviroschools’ workshop.
“Lyttelton was an obvious choice for us because it’s a new school, and our signage is already in use in the area at
events and the Farmers’ Market, but it’s Brett’s enthusiasm that made it most appealing,” says McIver. “Recycling
systems need buy-in from everyone, but the staff who remove the rubbish are most important, and Brett’s commitment was
evident from the start.”
So that comparisons can be made between a new campus and an established one, Heathcote Valley School will also be
included in the pilot. “The students there have already shown a lot of enthusiasm, and we undertook an audit with their
environment club in 2013,” says McIver. “The results were standard with high recycling contamination rates, and at least
half of the landfill could have been diverted, saving the school in waste disposal fees.”
As both schools are signed to Enviroschools (Heathcote Valley signed up last term), the system will be supported by
their education team. Matt Stanford from Enviroschools says, “This national programme empowers students to make
sustainable changes in their school and wider environment. Learning about the importance of and implementing effective
waste management practises are a part of this journey.”
Whilst the schools stand to gain reduced waste fees, for Our Daily Waste the pilot is the first step in getting their
revolutionary recycling systems into schools across Aotearoa/NZ.
ENDS