If you are a Tweed parent who has never heard of e-wasted upcycling, you may soon get a lesson about it from your kids, thanks to a $60,000 Nationals in NSW Government green technology grant for local schools, Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest has announced.
“Griffith University has been awarded an Environmental Trust Grant to work with the local Tweed public school community on a project Promoting Renewable Energy Adoption Through E-Waste Upcycling,” Mr Provest said.
“This involves installing PowerWells green energy charging stations in Tweed Schools. PowerWells are not just solar powered, but made from recycled laptop batteries, so they are a really big win for the environment.”
The initiative seeks to change students’ attitudes towards their energy usage habits and get them proactively engaged in sustainable energy practices via e-waste upcycling. A research study will be conducted on the project outcomes to illustrate student uptake and charging trends over time.
Mr Provest said it would give children ‘green bragging rights’ as they came home from school with their devices fully charged in the most planet friendly way possible.
“What this is really about is offering young families the means to make a measurable contribution to the Nationals in NSW Government’s zero carbon future strategy,” Mr Provest said.
“We know from the success of initiatives like our Return and Earn scheme for bottles and cans, that families love to get involved and do their bit for the environment.”
“Politicians can talk all day about climate change, but partnerships like this one with practical outcomes are what really matters and what people really want,” Mr Provest concluded.