EnviroCom » Education

Pledge Campaign encouraging Central West residents to feed their FOGO bin

Anna Ricketts — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 05:15:17 +0000

To increase the use of the kerbside Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service in Bathurst, Forbes, Orange and Parkes, EnviroCom launched the Pledge Campaign on behalf of NetWaste in mid-2018. The campaign asks residents to “take the pledge” to put all their food waste in the FOGO bin rather than in the household garbage bin.

The majority of households in the four LGAs have a FOGO bin that accepts food waste, as well as garden waste and disposable paper. After collection, this material is composted locally to produce nutrient rich organic fertilisers helping to divert this valuable resource away from landfill

The ‘We’re doing it…are you?’ Pledge Campaign aims to increase awareness that all food waste should be placed in the green-lidded FOGO bin and establish this as a social norm. Those who make a pledge receive a pledge campaign bin sticker for the front of their FOGO bin, a factsheet with a range of helpful hints and tips, and are placed on a mailing list to receive regular FOGO related updates from EnviroCom.

Residents are encouraged to make their pledge at frequent public place displays held by EnviroCom staff or can pledge online via the NetWaste website. The campaign has been supported by an extensive media package including TV, radio, social media and newspaper advertisements, and has received media coverage of its own!

Over 750 pledges were received as the campaign garnered significant momentum during its first year, becomingly increasingly recognisable across the region. EnviroCom and NetWaste will build on this during a second year of the program, continuing to motivate households in the Central West to use their FOGO bins and keep food waste out of local landfills.

ACT green waste service going from strength to strength

Anna Ricketts — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 05:03:45 +0000

In April 2017, the ACT Government launched a brand new green waste service for the areas of Weston Creek and Kambah. Due to the initial success of the service the area of Tuggeranong was added into the service area in January 2018. The service operated on an opt-in basis where residents pay a one off $50 cost recovery fee. The uptake of the service was tremendously popular with 63% of residents opting-in for a green waste bin since the service commenced. EnviroCom has been responsible for marketing the new service and providing education to residents about how to use their new bin. To date, nearly 16,000 bins have been inspected by EnviroCom staff over the past two years with 92.5% of the bins being free of contamination. From April 2017 – April 2019 the service collected 8543 tonnes of green waste, which also includes the addition of the Belconnen area to the service in September 2018.

As of 1^st April 2019, the green waste service is now available across all of the ACT. The service remains optional with the one off $50 fee. EnviroCom will provide three full time staff moving forward to ensure the ongoing success of this green waste service by continuing bin inspections, running facility tours, staffing pop up displays and designing education materials. Targeted community education and engagement will assist ACT residents to use their green waste bin correctly helping to divert a valuable resource away from landfill. The collected garden waste will be turned into mulch products which can be purchased by residents at a discounted rate.

Dandenong schools compete in Nude Food Day

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:39:01 +0000

Client: Nude Food Movers

City of Greater Dandenong primary schools – competing to clean up their lunch boxes for Nude Food Day. Nude Food November Challenge is a national event created by Nude Food Movers to encourage individuals to make their lunch a healthy, nutritious and environmentally friendly meal by filling it with fresh food and eliminating all unnecessary wrapping and packets.

This year the Nude Food November Challenge was held from 5-12 November. City of Greater Dandenong had 11 primary schools working towards achieving zero-waste in their lunch-boxes on Nude Food Day.

In preparation for Nude Food November Challenge, students participated in a ‘pop-lunchbox inspection’ to get a better understanding of just how much waste is generated from their everyday school lunchbox. From the 2555 students that participated in the surprise lunchbox inspection, a staggering 7375 wrappers, packets and packaging waste were counted!

With the help of lesson plans, classroom activities, educational resources and in-class presentations, developed and delivered by EnviroCom on behalf of Dandenong City Council, along with the hard work of students, teachers and parents, the second lunchbox inspection revealed an enormous reduction of 46%. Only 3411 wrappers, packets and packaging waste were recorded for the lunchboxes of all participating primary school students for the Nude Food November Challenge. This challenge was a great success with some truly amazing results from the 156 classes who participated.

Education Resource Development: Desalination

glenn — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:27:01 +0000

EnviroCom”s curriculum development team was commissioned to develop resources for the population serviced by Sydney Water that would improve understanding of the scientific processes and social services delivered by desalination. The units of work ( for Grade 7 multi-curricula, Grade 10 Science and Grade 10 Geography) included a series of lesson plans specifically targeted to each year level and subject area, designed to link with the Sydney Water Desalination Virtual Tour, additional existing educational resources and the National Curriculum.

The units of work are available via a free download for teachers via the Sydney Water website.

Desalinated Water and Purified Recycled Water Resource Development for Schools

glenn — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:32:51 +0000

On behalf of SEQ Water (formerly WaterSecure) EnviroCom developed two units of study, ( designed to link with SEQ Water’s existing virtual tours, fact sheets and multi-media resources), on desalinated water and purified recycled water in South East Queensland. Targeting Grade 7 and Grade 10 Science and Geography students the resource incorporated a range of lesson plan outlines and student activities linked to the National Curriculum.

The units of work are available as a free resource for teachers via WaterSecure’s website.

Wipe Out Waste Program

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:52:23 +0000

EnviroCom coordinated the Gold Coast City Council Wipe Out Waste (WOW) Program since its inception in May 2000 until October 2011. EnviroCom was responsible for program development and delivery to the school sector and facilitation of community events, including waste minimisation skills workshops. The program, delivered using purpose built mobile education facilities, has consistently engaged more than 30,000 students each year since 2003.

Other aspects of the program include:

Redevelopment of lessons to incorporate the changing nature of waste management on the Gold Coast (i.e. extraction of methane from landfills; 2020 Vision on Waste strategy)
Initiation of the Wipe Out Waste Challenge, engaging schools in practical waste minimisation initiatives
Initiation of an annual poster competition and calendar
Design and development of the Wipe Out Waste story book series
Design and fit out of mobile education facilities

The Wipe Out Waste Program was a finalist in the Banksia Environmental Awards for Leadership in Environmental Communications in 2003.

2010 Waste Education Strategy

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:50:53 +0000

Redland City Council engaged EnviroCom to develop a waste education strategy for integration with their regional waste management plan. Founded on Council’s priorities for waste diversion and avoidance, the strategy incorporated initiatives to target identified audience sectors, including mechanisms for community feedback, and included robust evaluation tools linked to a series of KPI’s.

The strategy was underpinned by significant background information and research, including industry workshops, community surveys, industry observations, waste practice assessments and client and community liaison.

Koala Education Strategy

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:46:25 +0000

A facilitated workshop for teachers and other stakeholders was the mechanism to determine the demand for and preferred content and format of a koala conservation resource for schools in Redland, in the heart of South East Queensland’s Koala Coast. EnviroCom planned and hosted the facilitation and subsequently collated and analysed the data for presentation to Council in written and verbal form.

Waste Education and Development of an Education Strategy

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:42:31 +0000

A targeted waste education strategy and communication plan, designed to maximise resident participation in new kerbside waste services was developed on behalf of the Burdekin Shire Council. Initiatives associated with the strategy included, development and distribution of information kits to all residents; targeted classroom presentations and associated school resources; coordination of competitions; development and implementation of newspaper and radio advertising; design and production of public place displays for events, customer service centres and libraries and the development of web support resources. On the ground activities included outreach programs delivered by EnviroCom educators in schools and at community events.

Education Facility Design (mobile & static)

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:40:48 +0000

EnviroCom understands that educational facilities, designed to engage users in sustainability issues and encourage behaviour change, must be visually stimulating, highly interactive and incorporate flexibility to enable meaningful participation by a range of user groups. EnviroCom is experienced in designing and project managing the construction of educational facilities targeting a range of environmental issues; these include:

Gold Coast City Council Wipe Out Waste Vans 1 & 2
Gold Coast Water/Allconnex Watersaver Trailer
Toowoomba City Waste Education Wagon
Toowoomba Materials Recovery Facility Education Centre
Visy Recycling Education Centre (Brisbane)
Ergon QUT Smart Train
Mont Dore (New Caledonia) waste education facility design advisory consultant
Sunshine Coast Regional Council ‘Maroochy Waste Alert Centre’