Recycling - managing waterways

We have been focusing on recycling and the way in which dairy food is packaged  in recycled packaging.  Most dairy foods are packaged in recyclable material, however Australians recycle less than 50% of material that is able to be recycled.

Much of this rubbish ends up in landfill or worse left in the environment.  Living in a coastal community we have been researching the effects of rubbish that ends up in the ocean, through rivers and drain emptying into the ocean.

Many dairy farmers look after their waterways by:
•    Fencing rivers and streams so that animals are unable to defecate or access the rivers
•    Planting trees on their farms to keep water tables stable
•    Reducing effluent and fertiliser run off into the river system.
•    Using recycled packaging for their products.

We feel as a community that we also have a responsibility to look after our waterways and keep them rubbish free.  We have been educating our school community on the importance of placing rubbish in bins, recycling and reducing waste.
Some interesting facts about recycling
•    In Australia, 376,000 tonnes of plastic packaging is used every year. In 2010 we recycled 288,194 tonnes.
•    Over 5.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard was used from 2006-2007, with only 2.5 million tonnes of this recycled.

Plastic takes a long time to break down in the environment and we are concerned about the amount of plastic in our environment.
Did you know:
•    It is estimated that there are up to 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in each square mile of our oceans.
•    It takes 500 years for plastic bottles to break down in the environment.

Each year over 2.7 million tonnes of paper ends up in our environment.  Did you know:
•    Recycling 1 tonne of newspaper saves 3 cubic metres of landfill space
•    Paper breaks down slowly in landfill due to lack of oxygen.  As a result large amounts of methane (a harmful greenhouse gas) is produced.

As part of our Archibull journey we have started to educate our school community on the importance of looking after our rivers, oceans and waterways.  The responsibility of caring for our environments is not just the farmers, but all Australians.
We recognise the good job that dairy farmers do to protect our rivers.  However we feel that more education is needed to keep our waterways and oceans, clean and rubbish free.
Please view our movie in the previous post about the amount of rubbish that ends up in our ocean.  Remember to recycle all your materials that can be and reduce the amount of non recyclable material you purchase.