1 + 2 = 3 sustainability stars!

St Columba's single sustainability star on our front gate will soon be joined by two new friends. ResourceSmart Schools has awarded us two new stars in recognition of our energy and waste progress on our school's sustainability journey bringing our grand total to three stars!

ResourceSmart Schools is a Victorian Government initiative that helps schools benefit from embedding sustainability in everything they do.

St Columba's signed up to the program in our efforts to take action to minimise waste, save energy and water, promote biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The program also helps us reduce costs while giving students the opportunity to learn about sustainability in a tangible and realistic environment.

To date our environmental efforts have saved:

• 52,676 Tonnes of CO2 the equivalent of flying from Melbourne to Sydney 1,460 times;
• 44,013 kWh of electricity equal to 86 fridges running for a year; and
• over $9,000 in school savings.

Achieving 5 Stars is the pinnacle of ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic and the focus for our fourth star is the biodiversity of the school and surrounds.

But it is not enough to simply tick the boxes on the 5 Star checklist. 5 Star schools live and breathe sustainability, and at St Columba's this is a vision that we are well on the green path to achieving! Our parent Green Team and our 3/4 Eco Warriors are always on the lookout for more parent green thumbs to help out, so please let us know if this sounds like you.