This morning

• Hon Mark McGowan – Premier of Western Australia,
• Hon Stephen Dawson – Minister for Environment; Disability Services: Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council,
• Hon Simone McGurk – Minister for Child Protection; Women’s Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence and Community Services, and
• Lisa O’Malley – Member for Bicton

visited Santa Maria College to see the environmental initiatives established by our Eco Sisters co-curricular group which has been led by Science teacher, Hannah Fay.

Our Head Girl, Emma Robinson, and Head Boarder, Amy Treasure, greeted Premier McGowan and his party before heading to the Super Lab to share discussions with our girls on the projects and initiatives the College has implemented.

They were very impressed by the displays and explanation of the initiatives.

Today we showcased:

• Our plastic bottle recycling program
• Use of non-plastic containers and straws in the College café
• Community planting projects
• Making beewax wraps in place of plastic wraps
• Hotels for Bees
• Foreshore clean up
• Use of Keep cups

“I am very proud of all of the girls who were involved today and the wonderful work they are doing in protecting our earth”, said Premier McGowan.

Our visitors each received a gift bag, put together by our students, which included a metal straw, 2 x beeswax wraps, a bamboo toothbrush and a KeepCup.

Premier’s Press Conference:

The Premier held a press conference, following the girls’ presentations, to announce a container deposit scheme which will provide a 10 cent refund for all eligible beverage containers including soft drink cans and glass bottles, bottled water containers and flavoured milk cartons.  Their goal is to introduce this in 2020. The Container Deposit Scheme legislation is now in Parliament to be debated.

The Premier stated, “Projections show the scheme will result in 706 million fewer beverage containers littered over the next 20 years, and reduce the number of containers sent to landfill by 5.9 billion.”

The Environment Minister, Stephen Dawson said, “This scheme will be a win for the environment and a win for the local economy. It will also be designed to provide business opportunities for social enterprises and help charities and community organisations raise money to fund vital community work.”