How is the circular economy being implemented into our school community?

Problems associated with waste management as well as pollution are becoming worse and more extensive. In response to this crisis, we as a school community must do our best to reduce these problems, even if only at a local level.

According to the world bank, from the 2 billion tons of waste produced annually, at least a third is still not managed in a sustainable way. As population growth continues, this figure is only expected to increase and almost double by 2050.

The poor management of waste through uncontrolled dumping or landfill causes the pollution of water, air and land. More importantly, it enhances climate change, directly impacting ecosystems and species of flora and fauna. At the same time, our resources are finite and so future systems of development must steer away from the overuse of such resources.

To ensure economic development as well as a prospering society and environment in the future, the idea of a circular economy has been developed. Current systems are built on a linear economy whereby resources are extracted, used and disposed of. However, the circular economy aims to connect extraction and disposal to minimize waste production, as well as resource consumption to ensure sustainable development. It would incorporate the three main principles of reuse, reduce and recycle through better product design.

Today, the view that recycling is the sole solution to our problems of waste management has become widespread, while this is not the reality. Many developed countries ship their waste to developing nations, in hopes of reduced costs, meeting recycling targets as well as reducing domestic landfills. The problem arises when the quantities of waste are so large, developing countries can no longer effectively handle them. This has become a problem, especially with the mass production of clothing, which accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The fast fashion industry, driven by the demand for cheap clothing of Western nations, has led often to overproduction and therefore, to enormous quantities of disregarded textiles and garments. Moreover, fast fashion has led to worsening working conditions.

The devastating impacts of the fast fashion industry can clearly be seen in developing nations like Chile in South America. Chile has become a dumping ground for developed countries like the UK, as from the 60,000 tonnes of clothing arriving in Northern Chile each year, only about 35% can be resold and the rest is dumped, namely in the Atacama desert. The mountains of garments remain in the desert until incinerated, which again produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, as clothing is dumped, materials which take hundreds of years to decompose are also disposed of.

A circular economy may very well be a solution to this growing issue, because currently clothing is also particularly hard to recycle. Globally only 12% of materials used for clothing is recycled and this is because textiles need to be sorted into different fibers which requires intensive labor and a skilled workforce. The circular economy could help focus the fashion industry on using safe and renewable inputs and implementing models which increase the utility and lifespan of clothing. For example, through higher quality and more durable designs.

Our school has a newly formed Social Impact Student Union, which consists of a variety of clubs that aim to better our community. Part of this union are the Changemakers. The Changemakers is a school-wide program rooted in teacher and student empowerment and the Changemaker ambassadors are a collective of Year 12 students who are passionate about the environment, sustainability and implementing change in our school community. Led by Geography teacher Ms.Bayford and Biologist Ms.Catallo, they aim to promote sustainability in our school community and educate students about its importance.

They have several ongoing projects, aiming to incorporate all areas of sustainability which can be effectively addressed in our community. One of their ongoing projects involves rewilding our school by creating a garden to educate younger students especially, about biodiversity, the impacts of climate change and how gardens may need to be adapted. This project will be put into action during the early spring planting season. Another project focuses on paper recycling and how it can be more successfully carried out to ensure all paper in our school gets recycled. Their newest project, and the one this article will focus on, is their uniform exchange program which aims to implement the circular economy into our school systems, to help combat the issues of fast fashion locally.

The uniform exchange project is built around an already existing system that the PTA has in place. Currently, the PTA regularly collect old uniforms from parents, as well as from the lost and found and hold sales for families missing certain pieces of uniform, or perhaps to families whose uniform shipments have been delayed. This has been successful to an extent, however the lack of publicity and awareness surrounding these sales has led to there being a lot leftover, with which nothing is done. Uniforms are especially hard to donate or reuse because of their branded nature, so those not resold are left to waste. This new exchange project would aim to reuse all uniforms so no waste is produced and hence no resources are waste.

So far, the Changemakers have begun the planning

and research stages of the project. They have received project management training from their community partner, Ms.Heather Szabo, who most recently was a Lean project manager for Raiffeisen Bank. As such, they are developing skills and knowledge of how to bring this project to life. This would be a significant development to make our school more sustainable and could be beneficial to our community as well as the environment, if carried on throughout the span of years. Once the idea has fully been developed, our school community will be informed of exactly how the project will achieve its aims: to reuse and recycle uniforms.

Don't forget to check the next issue of the Muse Magazine, where the details of the idea will hopefully be revealed, as well as information on the Changemakers’ other ongoing projects. Until then, feel free to contact any member of the Changemakers, or me, with any queries, ideas or concerns about the project.