It started with a few bottles and cans in a Langford driveway.
Six or seven years later, those 10-cent containers have helped put fresh vegetables, herbs and a new garden into the hands of students at Brookman Primary School.
Behind the project is 75-year-old Donald “Don”, who saw an opportunity when Western Australia’s container deposit scheme was being introduced.
“I saw advantage for the school,” Don said.
He approached the school about collecting eligible containers and donating the proceeds, then helped set up what became the Brookman Project.
Four collection bins now sit in his driveway, where neighbours and friends can drop off their bottles and cans.
The containers are collected free of charge and the proceeds go back to the school, with Don estimating the project has raised about $2,000 in a typical year.
He said donations had dropped slightly as more people were cashing in their own containers amid cost-of-living pressures, but the project continued to receive community support.
Don’s involvement with Brookman Primary began well before the container collection.
Years ago, he suggested starting a chess club at the school and helped run lunchtime sessions for students.
Health problems eventually made it difficult for him to continue with the club, but another opportunity to support the school came when he heard about the 10-cent container scheme.
The P&C later renamed the initiative Don’s Brookman Project and presented him with a plaque and badge, which he still wears.
P&C president Kylie Martin said Don had been donating the money to the school without asking for it to be spent on anything in particular.
She wanted to change that by creating something at the school that could be connected to his contribution.
“I wanted to have something that he, because he’s so proud of it, knew that money was going towards,” Ms Martin said.
A garden seemed a natural fit with a project already centred on recycling and giving back to the community.
The result is a garden where students can grow food while learning where it comes from and how to care for it.
Students are growing tomatoes, broccoli, beans, strawberries, kale, lettuce and radishes, alongside Asian, Indian and Mediterranean herbs.
Lavender has also been planted to help keep pests away.
Principal Nikki Lyons said Year 4, 5 and 6 students could choose gardening as one of the school’s Thursday afternoon “hubs”, with about 25 students currently taking part.
“They’re out there learning about the plants. They’re learning about different soils,” she said.
“They’re learning about how they can plant different things, seasonal vegetables, seasonal plants.”
The lessons do not end when the produce is ready to pick.
Students take some of what they grow to school assemblies, where it can be exchanged for more containers or a small donation, with the money returned to the garden.
Ms Martin said the garden could also give students practical skills they could use at home, including growing food and eventually learning how to prepare simple meals using the produce.
She said the school wanted more people to contribute eligible containers, with donations able to be dropped at the school and other participating collection points.
The project is also expected to continue growing, with the school planning further investment and applying for grants to expand the garden.
Don said he hopes the collection will carry on too. Despite his serious health problems, he remains proud that an idea which began with collecting discarded containers has become something students can use.
“I’m proud of our community and our school,” he said.
“I don’t know how much longer I have left, but I’m sure someone will continue the work I’ve started.
“I trust my wife and neighbours to keep it going.”
