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Our Recyclables |
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The first thing we did was educate ourselves about recycling. Because it didn't happen in our community, we were very ignorant about what could be recycled and the actual process of recycling. We had a class excursion and visited Collex Recycling, Metalcorp and the Glenorchy Tip Shop. |
Here are some reports from two
of our class members.
Last Tuesday
our class went to our recycling excursion. First we went to Collex. They
sorted and organised lots of materials for recycling. We saw glass, paper, cardboard, plastics and aluminium. The
types of plastic were PET and HPDE.
We got to see the guard dog it was a German Shepard. I liked the
bales of cans because they had so many different labels.
The next
place we went to was called Metalcorp. As we came in a excavator smashed
a car and all the glass went flying everywhere like a big rock being
dropped in the water. If we found something like a spring the man would
let you have it for free!
Later on we went to the Glenorchy Tip Shop. I forgot to bring some money so Mrs.Read kindly loaned me fifty cents so I could buy a Harry Potter glass. It was a Quidditch glass with Harry on it with Oliver Wood and either Fred or George in the background. Over all I think Metalcorp was the best.
Last
Tuesday our class went on an excursion to Collex, Metalcorp and the
Glenorchy Recovery Tip Shop. At
Metalcorp Paul showed us around and crushed a car for us. I liked it when
Paul put the machine on the car roof. All the glass got crushed and
sprayed everywhere out in little pieces. At
the Recovery Tip shop I brought three things: a little brown dog with
black ears that barks when you squeeze its tummy, a black and white
spotted one with a bow around its neck and a picture of a puppy tied up in
the rain saying “Nobody Loves Me!” Mum also came too and bought an old
fashioned bowl and jug that a person would put a cloth in and wash. |
| We chose a recyclable product and did individual research on it. From knowing nothing, we became experts on recycling. |
| We purchased and labelled plastic containers for each classroom, the library, the canteen and the staffroom so that everyone at our school could rescue their recyclables and send them to a collection centre. We visited other classrooms and taught them about recycling and how to use their bins. |  |
The
Grade 5/6 class performed a play with the theme “Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle the Trash” about how people have dealt with their rubbish
throughout history. This was entertaining and very well received
and helped get the message across to children in other classes and
parents at the assembly.
This is a copy of the letter we sent to the General Manager of our local Council. |
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We
are four Grade 6 students from Orford Primary School who are concerned
about the future. We would
like some help and advice from our local council.
At Orford Primary School we think it is important to recycle so
that we can start saving some of the world’s natural resources.
If all people make an effort now to recycle, our lives will be a
lot more secure and enjoyable in the future. Most people in our town just put everything into garbage bags and it is buried at the Orford Tip because they don’t know what else they can do with it. People in other areas have kerbside recycling or at least bins in central places where they can leave their recyclables and know that they are going to the right place. At the moment we are really trying to cut down on the amount of paper that is always wasted in our school. We hope to reduce the amount of rubbish that we actually send to the tip for burial by at least half, or more if possible. We are trying to sort out the things that can be recycled from amongst the school rubbish and organise for it to be sent to a recycling depot. We are not happy any more with our recyclables being buried. We really need to find a way that we can take our recyclables to a depot. We were wondering whether the Council would be able to help us out by doing two things for us. Firstly, could you possibly supply our school with a large outdoor bin with a lid for us to put our recyclable things in? We need somewhere to store our used plastic, cans, glass, cardboard and glass. Other schools in the municipality might appreciate this as well. Secondly, once we obtain a bin, is there any way the council could help transport our recyclables to Collex or somewhere similar? At the moment the only other way we have of doing this is to ask for people going to Hobart to drop our recycling off at the Sorell or Mornington centres. There are also some questions that we hope you can help us with. We are very keen to know what happens to the plastic and cans that people take to the Buckland Roadhouse and leave in the bins. We had originally planned to do this with our school recycling but many local people say that these things are not transported to a recycling depot, but just taken back to the Orford Tip. Can you please get back to us on that. We would also like to know about your future plans for the Orford Tip. Is there any chance of some recycling bins or a Tip Shop? We look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully Mitch Mitchley, Meaghan Heald, Louisa Caswell and Freya Embrey (On Behalf of Grade 5/6) |
| The new General Manager of the
Glamorgan/Spring Bay Council, Mr Alan Daley, responded to our letter by
visiting our classroom and discussing many interesting issues. He
answered our questions and listened to suggestions. he also said
that the Council would give us some bins for storing our recyclables.
In the meantime, one of our class members was discussing the problem of delivering our recyclables with his father who worked for the local woodchip mill. |
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His father organised for our school recycling to be collected on a regular basis by Gunns Ltd and then transported to Collex in the truck hired by their company to dispose of their waste. They also donated some large outdoor bins to us for storing our recyclables. |
