Our annual Student Sustainability Leadership Summit was held at the Hawthorn Arts Centre on Tuesday 11 October 2022.
Delivered by Earthwatch Australia, the summit gave primary school students the opportunity to develop their sustainability leadership skills and share ideas about how to live more sustainably.
One hundred students from 8 local primary schools participated in this year's summit. Students who attended were in grades 4, 5 and 6.
Before the summit, students developed their own interactive, educational and fun sustainability activities. They then delivered their activities to the other students at the summit.
The topics presented included:
- the wonderful world of worms
- plastic no way!
- rewilding the world
- make an eco-brick
- nudie foodies
- cool composters.
One group of students from Chatham Primary School developed an activity called 'How to layer hot compost.'
Hot composting is a sustainable activity which is said to produce greater volume than cold composting. Hot compost also contains less weed seeds and is richer in substances, which help plants grow.
To create a hot compost, you will need:
- a small bin (to collect compostable waste in your kitchen)
- a compost bin or shaded area outside (for your compost to go)
- gloves
- a shovel or compost stirrer
- dry foliage
Once you have the materials you need, follow these steps:
- Place dry foliage at the bottom of your compost heap/bin
- Add shredded paper (brown waste) on top of dry foliage
- Collect your composting food scraps (green waste)
- Layer your compost scraps (green waste) on top of the dry foliage
- Stir weekly to keep your compost aerated
- Continue to alternate layers of green waste and brown waste. You'll know when your compost is good because worms will appear.
- Add newspaper to the top of the container and spray with water (this step is optional).
Try to keep your compost covered, so that it doesn't attract unwanted pests.
The students' top tips are:
- choose nutritious food scraps for your worms
- think about what you put into the compost
- educate others about layering green and brown waste to create hot compost.
Thank you to all of the students who participated in this year's summit. We look forward to next year's event!
