Lilydale Heights College and Wandin Yallock Primary School have won awards at the 2025 ResourceSmart Schools Awards.
Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos announced on 5 June the winners of the ResourceSmart Schools Awards which rewards schools that minimise waste, save energy and water, promote biodiversity and act on climate change.
Lilydale Heights College took out the top prize with the ResourceSmart School of the Year award while Wandin Yallock Primary School secured the CDS Excellence Award in the primary school category.
Lilydale Heights College was recognised for embedding sustainability into the school’s curriculum and culture and Wandin Yallock Primary School’s efforts with the Container Deposit Scheme landed them the top primary school slot.
The Wandin Yallock Primary School earned $500 from VICReturn for water tanks and raised over $400 from container collections, showing their sustainability practices are financially – you guessed it – sustainable.
One purchase the school’s Enviro Squad team had made with the funds they’d earned was the plush sea turtle Mascot, fittingly dubbed Eco by the students.
Since 2008, over 1,600 Victorian schools have participated in the program, planting more than 5.1 million trees, saved over $63 million through energy, waste and water savings, diverted 170,000 cubic metres of waste from landfill and avoided over 110,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Dimopoulos said “Our schools are producing incredibly impressive projects that are delivering real environmental benefits across the state.”
“Students gain hands-on experience in sustainability, how to reduce waste, conserve energy, and protect the environment while gaining skills that will be with them for life.”
The two Yarra Ranges school’s appearances continued the Yarra Ranges’ strong track record for the ResourceSmart awards.
Last year, Wandin North Primary School secured the Emerging School of the Year award, Mount Lilydale Mercy College won both the secondary school category for the Community Leadership School of the Year and the secondary teacher of the year due to Andrew Feher’s outstanding teaching.
