Mandurah students empower their local government to look towards a plastic-free future

Mandurah Baptist Students never thought they would be the key drivers of a push across local government to protect the region’s environment. 

After a City of Mandurah sponsored trip to the national Kids Teaching Kids conference, the students were encouraged to present a pledge to local councillors. 

The students urged councillors to consider the dangers of plastics on the environment and make positive steps towards a “plastic-free” future. 

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Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams said he was blown away by the student’s enthusiasm. 

“Their passion for the environment and their clarity on the dangers that plastics present for our environment was inspirational – they were the real drivers of this idea,” he said.

Mr Williams brought forward the motion to phase out single-use plastics at the council’s July meeting. 

As part of this plan, the local government will engage local businesses in an opt-in campaign to reduce the use of single-use plastics across Mandurah.

“In bringing the Notion of Motion I recognise that Mandurah is already a leader in environmental protection, but we can do more,” Mr Williams said.

“Every piece of plastic that has ever been made still exists, so how can we not support a single-use plastic free future? 

“We have the most beautiful waterways as well as an abundance of environmental assets and we have to protect them.

“The impact of our behaviour in our community affects us on a global scale. 

“If we start making small changes at home, in our businesses, and within our community the impact is immense.

“By phasing out single-use plastics across our organisation, and providing an opt-in opportunity for local business to engage in their own plastics reduction efforts, we are role modelling to our community the actions required to keep our local environment strong and healthy.

“The credit for this motion must really go to the students from Mandurah Baptist College.

“This motion is another example of a citizen-led initiative – I encourage all of the community to have their say, and I can assure you all there will be many opportunities to do so as we move forward with a new vision for Mandurah.”

Originally the students pitched a proposal for the council to ban people from releasing balloons in the city, but have since said that every area where single-use plastics are used, could be better assessed. 

At a local level, the students have made a series of changes to assist the school’s environmental footprint, including putting an end to a graduation tradition of releasing balloons. 

City of Mandurah currently sends about 43,000 tonnes of general municipal waste per annum to landfill. 

The new plant will process this quantity of waste and convert it into electrical energy, which will be returned to the Western Power grid in Kwinana for re-use. 

Mandurah currently recycles/recovers approximately 25 per cent of its waste stream through its existing recycling services and this will increase to around 85 per cent with the new energy plant.

The facility, which will be the first of its kind in Australia, will be able to process 400,000 tonnes of waste a year.