A Mandurah Catholic College student has spent hours educating primary school students on recycling in the hope to change the way future generations tackle waste.
Year 11 student Jamie-Anne Madigan has adopted a campaign to reduce plastic waste through her involvement with the Youth on Leadership program.
Jamie-Anne has become a prominent advocate for the Heal Peel initiative which has already led to in-class presentations to hundreds of primary school children.
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“We initially held a stall at the Stretch Festival where we made things using recyclable plastics,” she said.
“With our help, kids made turtles and dolphins, animals that are being adversely affected by the plastic in our oceans.
“We could interact and educate while making the plastic animals.”
The enthusiastic student was invited to speak at Mandurah Primary School after teacher Anne Fenelon attended a Youth on Leadership meeting and liked the innovative ideas being expressed.
Jamie-Anne said Mrs Fenelon liked the design of a reusable bag they had made.
“We came up with the idea of encouraging students to bring in single-use plastic bags to exchange for the reusable bags,” she said.
Jamie-Anne launched the bag exchange scheme at the primary school, addressing every student from kindergarten to Year Six.
“The students were really keen and interested,” she said.
“They want to live in an environment that is healthy and clean and I think they realise, even the little ones, that they need to work towards a sustainable future.
“All of them were really engaged and understood the simple changes that need to be made.
“They couldn’t understand why we have been doing what we do, like using single-use bags, when there were other alternatives.
“After the presentations, the kids were showing me their lunchboxes and picking up plastics.
“There really was a connection, I think, which was so rewarding and encouraging.”
