By ANNA USHER

Students at Cammeray Public School have turned 30,000 bottles, cans and cartons into more than $3,000 towards a brand-new playground – and the P&C has a formula that could take that amount to $70,000 a year.

The school’s Environment and Sustainability Committee set up Return and Earn collection bins next to the canteen and outside the school gates, enabling 10-cent refunds on eligible containers. Recycling competitions have helped drive student participation.

“The P&C had been fundraising to replace the school’s rusty little playground,” one parent involved in the initiative told Mosman Collective.

“Originally, we found it difficult to motivate families to collect drink containers for environmental reasons.”

Then came the maths.

“We realised that if every student in our school collected just three bottles a day, then in one year that would add up to over $70,000 – and that we could use this as an incentive to motivate the whole family.”

The campaign quickly went school-wide. Students now give speeches at assembly, signs have gone up on the collection bins, and the initiative is shared regularly on social media.

The fundraising is already paying off. The first stage of the new playground was completed in 2025, featuring a slide, sandstone rocks and blocks.

Return and Earn contributions will now go towards the second phase: a three-cube climbing tower and an overhead net tunnel.

And the school is not just asking its own families. Anyone in NSW can donate their container refunds directly to the cause.

Download the Return and Earn app, tap Charities, search for Cammeray Public School Playground Fund and select Set as Payout. Every time you feed a bottle into a return point, 10 cents go straight to the new playground. The school has filmed a step-by-step video – made by students, for students – showing exactly how to do it:

“Don’t be shy to ask your grannies, your neighbours, your local restaurants, your workplace – because everyone in New South Wales can use this app,” the students say in the video.

The P&C says the benefits go beyond the cash.

“By collecting all the bottles and cans, not only are we fundraising, but we are also hoping to create awareness and motivate our community to save containers from landfill and from washing into the ocean,” the parent told Mosman Collective.

Cammeray Principal, Victor Tan, said: “Thank you to the P&C and their environmental sub-committee, we now have the most magical playground.”