Students learn to reimagine plastic waste

Two pioneering Victorian education programs are empowering students with knowledge about plastic and the circular economy through hands-on learning.

In the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, Jesuit Social Services’ (JSS) Ecological Justice Hub has formed a partnership with Precious Plastics Melbourne to gather ideas and access equipment that it uses to run excursions and incursions where students can reimagine waste as a resource.

In 2023, the JSS Ecological Justice Hub – a program dedicated to both social and environmental justice through initiatives such as permaculture garden workshops, food security, community kitchen and offices – was awarded a Sustainability Victoria grant. This allowed JSS to purchase Precious Plastic Melbourne recycling equipment – three machines that shred single-use clean and sorted bottle caps and melt them into a resin students can then shape into beautiful and durable items such as planter pots and reusable coffee cups.

JSS has taught 1,500 students from eight schools across Victoria about plastic recycling since the inception of the program.

JSS’s Ecological Justice Hub Program Coordinator Stuart Muir Wilson says, “The aim of our program is to demystify plastics recycling. Participating in this program educates students about the energy and effort used to recycle, and why refusing single-use plastic is a better strategy. An even bigger and more transformative outcome is building people’s confidence in their own ability to learn.

“We use plastic bottle caps because they are not easily recycled – due to their size they don’t filter through large, colour sorting automated recycling machines, and consequently often end up in landfill,” explains Stuart.

“The bottle caps go through a three-stage process. The first step is to clean, sort them into colour and grade, 2 HDPE and 4 LDPE, and grind the plastic into usable crumbs. Then the crumbs are melted into various moulds. The plastic type ensures the melting process doesn’t create toxic fumes. The final stage places the plastic crumbs into a sheet press mould to make utility panels which can be cut, shaped and melted together to create planter boxes, picture frames, furniture, shelving and even jewelry.

Galen Catholic College in Wangaratta is one of the schools that has arranged excursions to the JSS Ecological Hub and Samuel Price, Learning Area Leader – Science says, “Our time at the Hub was so worthwhile. A real eye-opener and inspirational experience for our students to see first-hand how such dedicated and passionate people in our community are creating amazing opportunities for those less fortunate than ourselves.

“The work Stuart and the team are doing is so important; not only for educating young people about environmental and sustainability issues facing a planet crying out for help, but in seeing how this work can be integrated into programs that can support our communities and businesses work together for the benefit of everyone.”

Also taking up the mantle of plastic education and the use of waste as a resource is Rethink Recycling, a not-for-profit organisation inspiring change through hands-on learning.

Rethink Recycling’s award-winning education program has been designed specifically for students using the STEAM principles, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and developed in partnership with teachers, environmental scientists and plastic engineers.

“We believe that education is a vital component for solving the issue of single-use plastics,” says Kym O’Shannassy, Rethink Recycling’s Co-Founder and CEO.

“Our program covers topics such as why we should consider single-use plastics a resource and not waste, the circular economy and its importance, ways to help rescue plastic lids from landfill and our environment, and how schools can become a circular environment.”

Now, thanks to a grant from Sustainability Victoria, Rethink Recycling has been able to create a mobile education centre that can be taken directly to schools.

Called RUSTIE – Regenerative Upcycling Solar-powered Trailer with Interactive Education – the trailer is fitted out with three interactive machines that students can use to make products from plastic lids including carabiners, rulers and tech decks.

“With the use of our interactive hand-operated machines – shredder, injector and extruder – the students are shown how to take a plastic lid from waste to resource to a new product,” explains Kym.

“The look on their faces when they see the finished product is fantastic. It’s a tangible way to demonstrate that we need to value our waste.”

According to Kym, there are multiple outcomes from engaging in the program. “RUSTIE fosters critical thinking by evaluating sustainable practices, inspires creativity in finding solutions to environmental challenges and encourages communication on sustainability issues. The program also builds science literacy by introducing foundational principles and technologies and prompts inquiry into problem-solving for real-world environmental issues.”

Kensington Primary School has taken part in Rethink Recycling’s program and teacher Jessica Birchall said, “It is one of the best incursions I have been a part of in my 15 years of teaching. Thank you for an incredible learning experience for the Year 2’s.”

The program has also received a thumbs up from students within Coburg Primary School with student Charlie saying, “I think it was really fun and exciting and I want to do it again.”

Sustainability Victoria’s CEO Matt Genever says it is wonderful to see these education programs coming to life through Victorian government funding for circular economies at a local scale.

“Through a hands-on experience, these students are learning there’s much more we can do with our waste than recycle it, you can actually make new things from it,” he said.

Sustainability Victoria has launched a series of new guides for educational institutions and community organisations who would like to start their own circular economy initiatives, such as repair cafes, bicycle repairs, community composting, food rescue and more. The “insider knowledge” in these guides comes from interviews with local community groups, social enterprises and other not-for-profit businesses who received a grant from Sustainability Victoria.