Our Sustainability Council and Action Groups will be building on successes and recent national recognition, to drive a range of initiatives, to further reduce Rangi Ruru’s impact on the planet.

For those wishing to be part of one of our forward-thinking sustainability teams to drive change, there are many leadership opportunities for students of all year levels, including presenting workshops and attending hui with other schools. We would also like to hear from family members and businesses in our wider community who are interested in sharing expertise through our Environment Club lecture series or working with us to collaborate on projects. Please email thoughts and ideas to Rosetta Brown brown.r@rangiruru.school.nz

Our extensive Reuse Depot continues to grow. We have recently sent off a large number of old mobile phones to support Sustainable Coastlines and over the break we packed up many boxes of items for reuse, that were otherwise destined for landfill. A video outlining the collections can be seen on Rangi Life.

Two of our major goals for 2019 include securing funding to establish a bio digester onsite, (to convert our green waste to gas for cooking and heating) and setting up a Sustainability link through Rangi Life, with up to date information on how you can support our projects and other environmental initiatives in the wider community.

Recently the CCC has made some changes to recycling collections. They are no longer accepting plastic bags or tetra pak cartons in the yellow bin. These now need to go in the red landfill bin. We recommend the CCC Bins app allowing you to quickly find out what goes in each bin.

The Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme has suspended collections until April. With changes to global recycling, the service requires this time to build capacity and new processing solutions to meet the demand. Our Rangi collection of soft plastics will resume in Term Two.

This year, during Social Studies, Year 9 classes will be going to the CCC Materials Recovery Facility to see what happens to recycling collections, where it goes and what it is recycled into. Year 7 will investigate effective waste minimalization and management processes and see what happens to green bin collections at the CCC Organics Processing Plant.

We are excited about the year ahead, becoming an Enviroschool and further reducing our CO2 emissions as a community. There will be many opportunities to get involved and help collectively create positive impact.