By Tanya Davies
MELROSE High School teacher Susan Daintith has been awarded the ACT’s Green Teacher award.  The Japanese studies teacher was awarded the title by Clean Up Australia after inspiring a number if initiatives within the school. 
As well as leading school assemblies, where students present environmentally themed sketches and skits, Susan also guides student leadership activities and an environmental committee of 30 students. 
Ms Daintith was nominated for the award by deputy principal Robin Morrell earlier this year, after she led 820 students in cleaning up the school grounds, tempting them with the promise of tokens in litter, and raffle tickets for every bag of litter collected. They also planted trees last month as part of National Tree Day.
With the help of the student representative council and the environmental committee, the school is set to become the ACT’s first public high school to be accredited under the Waste Wise scheme, which helps students and their schools reduce waste, and recycle paper, plastics and food scraps. 
Composting of food scraps has also begun in the school’s new canteens, kitchens, and a worm farm and gardens are planned. 
Ms Morrell said the school was applying a community approach to environmental initiatives, with its learning support centres hoping to assist in the management of the worm farms, and the possibility of involving groups with gardening projects.  Ms Daintith said getting teenagers involved with school recycling was more challenging than inspiring primary students, but hopes plans to decorate the school with murals and sculpture will inspire a greater diversity of students to become actively involved in their school environment. 
According to the Department of Education and Training’s Green Schools Paper, released this year, we are now in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and environmental education will be a central and consistent theme in the school curriculum. 
The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative has assisted some ACT schools to reduce waste to landfill by 75 per cent, but the average reduction per school is only around 15 per cent. 
As well as encouraging schools to become Waste Wise, the ACT Government is investing $20m over 10 years to assist schools become carbon neutral, and a $90m infrastructure refurbishment program, funded in the 2006-07 Budget, is helping to pilot drought-tolerant grasses and alternatives, and identify further areas for improvement. The government is also investing $110m in two five-star green building schools – the Gunghalin College and Tuggeranong (pre-school to Year 10) School.