Uniform Exchange
Oxley’s Sustainable Futures Group
Oxley’s Sustainable Futures Group aims to inspire and educate our school and wider community about practical steps that individuals can take to create a more sustainable future for all. Students identified that significant quantities of school uniform and items such as lunchboxes and drinks bottles end up in lost property and are unclaimed. Without a name, we cannot locate the owner and because many of these items are not accepted at charity shops, they end up in landfill. It’s estimated that each year Australian schools send around 2, 000 tonnes of uniforms to landfill[1] and residents in the Wingecarribee generate over 30,000 tonnes of waste materials each year.[2]
The group hosted a Uniform Exchange on Tuesday 25th March and thanks to their efforts and support from P&F, the event was a huge success. We had 509 items donated for the exchange including blazers, ties, shirts, dresses, sports jackets, sports shorts, hats, caps and jumpers. Of these items, 319 found a new home. Of the remaining 190 items, 178 will be stored for a future uniform exchange and we will explore the possibility of recycling the 12 items of old uniform through Worn Up[3].
If you have ideas about other initiatives that could help our school and wider community be more sustainable, please contact sustainability@oxley.nsw.edu.au and in the meantime, please name all drinks bottles, lunch boxes and items of school uniform.
[1] Annie repurposes old school uniforms and has so far kept 100 tonnes out of landfill. Here’s how | SBS News
[2] Wingecarribee Resource & Waste Management Strategy
