EcoMarines (from left) Anya Page, Tiffany Steinitz, Morgan Barnes and Isabella Reed and teacher Adam Brown with the winning boarding pass for the national Water Kids Teaching Kids conference in Melbourne
AN innovative way to recycle plastic bottles has earned four ecologically-minded students at Mt Maria College, Mitchelton, a trip to Melbourne.
Year 8 students Isabella Reed and Tiffany Steinitz and Year 7 students Morgan Barnes and Anya Page are Mt Maria’s ambassadors for the Tangalooma EcoMarines, an initiative that inspires students to create a healthy environment for local marine and wildlife through community action.
They wowed students at the inaugural Brisbane Kids Teaching Kids workshop, hosted by Queensland Urban Utilities, with their innovative workshop teaching students to reuse plastic bottles as self-watering planter pots.
Now the group are excited about making sure students across Australia were as excited about recycling too at the Melbourne Water Kids Teaching Kids conference, which aims to inspire future environmental leaders.
The Mt Maria EcoMarines won first place and will head to Melbourne in October to present to more than 400 students from 53 schools at the conference.
After winning the trip to Melbourne, the students were eagerly brainstorming new and inventive ideas to teach students from across the nation of the need to recycle.
“Although we loved teaching other students to make plant pots out of plastic, we can’t take 400 plastic bottles to Melbourne,” Tiffany said.
“We are really excited to come up with new ideas of ways we can recycle plastic to share with other schools,” Isabella said.
The students will present three activities at the Melbourne conference and were hoping to recruit State Member for Everton Tim Mander to spread the message locally.
“We are hoping to involve the entire Mt Maria community in our workshops, and it would be awesome to include Mr Mander,” Tiffany said.