14 June 2018

By Lucy Callander

An enterprising young greenie is using the power of the pen to help support his school’s environmental programs.

Joel Crothers, 9, has been writing letters to suppliers to source compost bins for St Mark’s Primary Catholic School in Dingley Village.

‘I am the Compost Captain and I could see that we needed new bins,’ Joel said.

‘We needed a lot though. And I thought it would be too much to buy 22 new bins.’

He first wrote to Glen Eira Council after hearing about an initiative where residents received 51lt kitchen caddies to use as compost bins.

But St Mark’s is not in the City of Glen Eira and the council wasn’t able to help.

The council did write back to Joel explaining why it couldn’t offer support and telling him where it had sourced the bins.

Joel wrote another letter, this time to the supplier Maze Products in Clayton South.

The company was happy to donate 24 free bins to the school.

‘We got them for every classroom and a couple of spares,’ Joel said.

He said the new bins made composting more appealing to his classmates.

‘Composting is really important for the planet,’ he said.

‘It reduces waste going to landfill and helps us make the soil in our kitchen garden better.’

St Mark’s is part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation with students growing and cooking their own food. The school’s kitchen garden co-ordinator Kerry Dermietzel said they were so proud of Joel.

‘He’s so passionate about the environment and sets an example that we should all follow.’

This article was originally published in the Moorabin Leader on 6 June 2018.