School and Council join together to make fairs more sustainable

St Leonards School is the first school in Dunedin to be used as a case study to see how much waste a fair creates and how it can be reduced.

The St Leonards School fair will be held from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, April 9.

Dunedin City Council Waste Minimisation Officer Catherine Gledhill will be attending the fair to promote the national 'Love Food Hate Waste NZ' campaign, offering hints and tips to reducing domestic food waste. At the end of the fair an audit will be conducted to see what waste can be recycled, what can be composted and how much residual waste or rubbish is left.

She hopes the results will help schools wanting to reduce waste at fairs in the future.

“I see it as a good opportunity for schools to look at what waste is generated and try to minimise it, starting at the planning stage.”

St Leonards School Principal Jo Wilson says one of the motivations to reduce waste at the fair was to help the school attain its green-gold Enviroschools status. The school currently holds silver status, by involving the community in activities like its community garden. Holding a sustainable fair would help the school achieve the higher status.

“It’s a perfect opportunity for us to showcase the school to the community and get them involved.”

Simple things like asking people to bring their own bag with them to carry their purchases and avoiding cling film where possible will help.

“The sustainable aspect of the fair has been very educational for the students and has got them thinking about how the rubbish we throw out affects our environment.”

One of the novel activities at the fair will be a smoothie bike. This will turn soft fruit, that might otherwise be thrown away, into delicious smoothies as well as providing people with some exercise. All disposable products used at the fair, such as plates and cups, will be compostable.

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