Sustainability in Action

The Great Ooshie Debate

Year 6 has taken a closer look at the recent release of new Disney Ooshies through Woolworths. For every $30 spent, customers can choose to collect a small plastic replica of a Disney character, or choose not to!

“They are terrible for the environment and kids only play with them for a small amount of time,” said Cameron J. “They will take 1000 years to break down and will just be a part of the plastic pollution,” he said.

Year 6s Bridget, Milana and Chloe have created an opportunity for students to reduce Ooshie waste by recycling them through TerraCycle. “We are going to have a raffle next Friday. Kids can get 1 ticket for every 5 old Ooshies they bring in to recycle. We don’t want them getting new ones, just the ones they have already collected,” they said.

Areesha, Alarna and Rea have written a statement about the Ooshie’s impact on the environment, as follows.

The impact of the ooshies and other collectables have on the environment?

By now I’m sure many of you have heard about the ooshies Woolies have been giving out after spending a specific amount of money you spent there. You probably also have heard about the mini-books Coles has been giving out too.

What’s the difference between them? Well, the minis books are made out of paper which is much better for the environment because it can be recycled. On the other hand, we have ooshies which can’t really get recycled. Woolies did partner up with Terracycle for a limited amount of time last year  but that was when kids used the ooshies and collected them. But when kids didn’t want their ooshies anymore, woolies didn't partner up with Terracycle. So the ooshies probably ended up in landfill or in the ocean and will be on the earth for years.

After the backlash the ooshies received, last year Woolies decided to make collectables that are more eco friendly. Which were the seeds, there were tiny seeds in a pot which was made out of cardboard. There were a variety of seeds, and they grew into fruits and veggies. Kids would still have something to collect and it’s eco friendly. This change made a lot of people in our community happy because that small change could help us change the world. Around the same time, Coles had just released their Coles mini-shops which had attracted a lot of customers. The Coles minis were practically like the stuff they had in Coles accept a mini version of it.

I know many of us adore the ooshies and the Coles minis and have been collecting them for a long time. But do we need them? Think about it! Where are all the ooshies you’ve been collecting? Are ooshies necessary?

I’m sure many of you are responsible and have kept most of them, but what are you going to do when you don’t like it anymore? The first thing you can do with all of the ones you have you could make something out of it. You could glue on some things you already have to make it decorative. Like if you have a pot plant that you don’t really like the look of, you can just glue some ooshie there to make it look more decorative. After you don’t have any ooshies left, it would be best for you, us and everyone in our community if you did not collect any more. 

We could even write a letter to Woolies about why they should stop the ooshie collections because it’s not good for the environment. We could also come up with new ideas for stores like Coles and Woolies to have eco-friendly collectables.

Remember recycling is good, but reducing is better. Your small actions will make a big change in the world, and make it safer for everyone.

-Areesha, Alarna and Rea