By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
A SCIENCE project at Coral Park Primary School has found plastic to be the number one pollutant at the neighbouring River Gum Creek Reserve in Hampton Park.
One hundred Grade 5 and 6 students took the science and maths experiment and found plastic made up 64 per cent of the rubbish in the wetlands adjacent to their school.
School teacher Kirwan Peluso said the students were surprised by the items that were found dumped at the parklands.
“We found push bikes and bike frames and other household items and I myself was shocked at the findings,” Ms Peluso said.
“It looked like the rubbish had been there for a long time, wrappers had faded in colour and plastics were embedded into the ground.”
The students covered about a square kilometre of land and Ms Peluso said the sheer amount collected and the places it was found has sparked the school students to want to do something about it.
“We found there are no rubbish bins in the area and our aim now is to put some plans into action and perhaps speak to the council about our ideas,” she said.
The students collected two garbage bags of rubbish over the week-long investigations and Ms Peluso said cardboard and paper came second to plastic at 24 per cent of the contents.
“Metal made up 4 per cent, aluminium cans 6 per cent and glass 5.5 per cent.
“It would be off putting to picnic there, the area is unappealing and doesn’t seem to get cleaned up regularly.”
Ms Peluso is hopeful that the school’s findings will result in a positive change for the walking track and wet lands.
“It has been a worthwhile experiment,” she said.
