Launched earlier in the 2017 school year, the campaign – NOvember, NO Plastic, NO Problems! – aimed to  eliminate the use of disposable plastics across the campus by November.

The first step of the campaign involved staff and students conducting a plastic audit to evaluate how much disposable plastic the college produces. 

From the results of the audit, the school implemented and monitored solutions to reduce its plastic usage. Some of the solutions included offering incentives and prizes to both staff and students who succeeded at becoming plastic free.

“We held a Nude Food Week to encourage the kids to stop bringing single use plastics to school,” Lumen teacher and campaign organiser Martin McGee said.

“Earlier in the term we had a number of special bins in the playground for soft plastic recycling which is then taken to the nearest Coles to be recycled into outdoor furniture.” 

Plastics have fast become one of the most disruptive forces on the environment. No-one knows exactly how long plastic takes to break down, but some estimates have the time at more than 1000 years.

The manufacturing process of many plastics release noxious chemicals into the air, including a number of carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and hormone-disrupting chemicals. Possibly the worst impact that plastic has on the environment is during its disposal. Only an estimated 10 per cent of plastics are recycled properly, meaning that most end up in landfill.

Unfortunately, because of plastic’s low density, it frequently gets caught up by wind gusts, and ends up settling in forests or waterways.

The alternative is the burning of plastic waste, which releases the same harmful toxins that are developed during the manufacturing phase.

Plastics are now one of the highest killers of fish and bird life around the globe.

Principal of Lumen Christi Catholic College Steve Centra hoped the campaign will take off within the wider community, and has put a call out to each and every one of us to do our bit for our local environment.

Earlier in 2017, supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles announced they would phase out all single-use plastic bags by the middle of 2018. However the NSW government has stopped short of announcing a state-wide ban on plastic bags, already in place in South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT.

Western Australia recently announced it will also ban plastic bags, while Queensland has vowed to bring in a ban from mid-2018.