Grade six pupil Kaiden jumped up and down with his hand raised, eager to answer questions about e-waste during an education session at Urquhart Park Primary School on Monday.
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Kaiden said he had been learning about e-waste and how to dispose of it correctly at school in the lead up to the e-waste to landfill ban that comes into effect on July 1.
Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group visited the school to launch their e-waste education campaign 'Better Places for E-Waste' with the help of the Little Green Wagon Education trailer.
"We learnt e-waste is dangerous to the environment so we have to be careful about disposing it," Kaiden said.
"I will definitely go home and share what I have learnt with my family. Hopefully we can make some changes and other people will too."
E-waste education has formed part of the school's sustainability class that all students attend for two hours every fortnight.
They will be the next generation so if we start embedding these ideas early on it is much easier to continue those good practices later on in life.
- La Vergne Lehmann
Sustainable Gardening Kitchen teacher Kerry Hartman said her pupils were driving the program sharing their own ideas and suggestions and taking the knowledge home to their parents.
Putting e-waste in the landfill bin will be banned from July 1, meaning any item with a plug, battery or cord must be deposited at a designated e-waste drop-off point.
All types of e-waste can be taken to the Ballarat Transfer Station, while batteries, mobile phones and small e-waste items can be dropped off at the Ballarat and Wendouree Library or the Phoenix Building.
Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group chief executive La Vergne Lehmann said schools were a great place to send messages home to families.
"They will be the next generation so if we start embedding these ideas early on it is much easier to continue those good practices later on in life," she said.
See the Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group e-waste booklet below.
Each pupil received a showbag with e-waste resources, including an information booklet and stickers to use on jars for collecting batteries.
Ms Lehmann said while it was important to know where to appropriately dispose of e-waste, the long-term focus should be on considering the use of items before they are even purchased.
"Before you even start it is important to consider 'do I really need that fairy floss maker?'," she said.
"Then when we buy something it is important we think about whether it will be able to be repaired, how it can be maintained, and with items like laptops and mobile phone, how can we make the battery last longer," she said.
"When an item is no longer needed or it is broken, there are options beyond just throwing things away. There are options for fixing at Repair Cafes or there are places that take old laptops, fix them and make them ready for other kids who can't afford laptops at school."
E-waste is growing up to three times faster than residential waste in Australia.
In 2008, 106,000 tonnes of televisions, computers and computer products reached end of life in Australia. By 2013, this volume had grown to 138,000 tonnes.
Without significant measures to reduce it, this figure will grow to approximately 223,000 tonnes in 2023-24, according to the Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group.
To learn more go to ewaste.vic.gov.au.
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