5 November 2010

Students from Hermit Park State School have taken a regional neighbour under their wing today to teach them the ins and outs of recycling as a Reef Guardian School.

In the lead up to National Recycling Week (8 to 14 November) Hermit Park State School will host Bowen State School on their Reef Guardian journey by sharing their best waste management practices.

Reef Guardian Schools Education Officer Carolyn Luder said she was proud to see the future custodians of the Great Barrier Reef encourage each other and share ideas on recycling.

"Hermit Park State School does an amazing job at recycling, they have their own compost and worm farm among other recycling programs," she said.

"The Bowen students will take away new ideas from their visit and build on their already existing recycling initiatives.

"Recycling is such a simple thing to do but it makes a huge difference in the protection of the Reef by reducing the amount of rubbish that could make its way into the Marine Park."

Bowen State School teacher Ian Haworth said the excursion would develop and broaden the students’ knowledge of environmental projects.

"Our students are often isolated due to our distance from large centres such as Townsville, so this is a great opportunity for them," he said.

"We would also like to share our environmental initiatives with our Reef Guardian peers."

The Bowen students will also be visiting Belgian Gardens State School and Townsville City Council's "Sustainable House".

The Reef Guardian Schools program is an initiative of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and is run in the Townsville region in partnership with the natural resource management group NQ Dry Tropics.

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