Risk of scraps going to waste

Class 13 at Arataki School are in desperate need of a hungry pig.

They need the pig to eat the food scraps they collect from around their school and they're hoping to strike up a win-win relationship with a friendly pig farmer.

Sandwich crusts, apple cores, banana skins and other assorted food scraps are collected and placed in a 40-litre bin which is normally full by the end of the week.

Class 13 started collecting food scraps this year after an audit found 30 per cent of all waste going to the landfill from the school was food scraps.

Students devised a system whereby every class in the school was given a bucket to collect food scraps and the buckets were regularly emptied into a bin.

With the help of teacher Adam McLean, the students became advocates for separating food scraps from the rest of the waste and their environmental enthusiasm was aided by a pig farmer who came to the school once a week to collect the scraps.

"Some schools actually have their own pig at the school but we couldn't manage that here in town, it's more of a country thing," Mr McLean said.

Arataki School's pig farmer is no longer able to collect the scraps and Class 13 feared it would have to return to its old ways - sending the food scraps to the landfill.

Mr McLean said his class was "hard out" into environmental and conservation issues and hoped their initiative would not end up in the bin. "Their learning is so much more richer [with this type of initiative]. If they see paper in the food scraps, they say 'oh my gosh, paper' and they pull it out."

Students were also growing seedlings to sell at the Arataki Kids Market to raise money for endangered New Zealand animals.

Class 13 encourages anyone who has a pig or any other use for their food scraps to contact the school.