The City of Newcastle is inviting school students to share their visions for a circular economy as part of an art competition launched today to promote a sustainable future and resource recovery.
The winning entries will be showcased on two waste collection trucks and numerous public bins across the city. The art competition encourages conversations around repairing, recycling and reusing resources.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the community would soon be allowed to have their say on the City of Newcastle’s vision for resource recovery. Councillors will vote this month to place our Sustainable Waste Strategy’s draft on public exhibition.
“With the Summerhill Waste Management Centre at its heart, Our Sustainable Waste Strategy will provide a model of best practices for waste, recycling and resource recovery. It will also play a key role in the region’s ability to address future NSW and Federal government targets,” Cr Nelmes said.
“The draft Strategy focuses on increased diversion and circular economy. We envisage a modernised Summerhill that will become a regional hub in resource recovery. We want to maximise the value of material in residents’ yellow and green bins. Ideally, it will also decrease what ends up in landfill via their red bins. We need to shift to a circular economy to reduce our impact on the planet. As a society, we need to get more value from limited resources. We must return, reuse, repair and recycle to create minimal waste. Hopefully, residents will save water and energy and keep those materials circulating even longer. This school-based art competition is a fantastic way to engage the next generation in these important conversations. It will also encourage broader community-wide feedback on Our Sustainable Waste Strategy.”
Competition around a sustainable future
The competition is open to all schools within the Newcastle Local Government Area. One primary and one secondary school winner will be awarded an iPad Mini and Apple Pencil each for their creative efforts.
All schools represented in the competition will also be running to win a workshop from GoCircular. It will assist the school in becoming more sustainable by joining the circular economy.
The competition closes on 23 September, with the two winners to be announced later this month.
For more details, visit www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/ClosetheLoop
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