St Joseph the Worker strongly emphasised the importance of reducing wrappers and packaging, and the impact it has on our environment. Valuable information was put in school newsletters, so that the wider school community was informed on the importance of reducing the amount of packaging they use and support the school’s commitment to Wrapper-free day.

In order for the school community to visually understand how much food packaging waste they bring in, the year 1 and 2 students started a project called ‘Waste Wall’. The students and teachers asked all the classes to collect any food packaging they brought into school as snacks and lunches. This packaging was then stuck on a Waste Wall, displayed in the school hall, for the entire school to understand how much waste they contribute.

Wanting to empower the students to fully understand the impact their waste has on the environment, each class was asked to do a maths activity. Depending on grade level, some classes counted the packets, other classes graphed the amount of packets and other classes discussed the volume of packets. Students were then asked to come up with actions they can take as a school to reduce the amount of waste produced, and record their suggestions on the ‘Waste Warrior Wall’.