Cash dream is in the can

A 3-D DRESS made from aluminium cans has won Brentwood Park Primary School a $2000 ‘Green Dream’.
The dress, which took 36 students at the Berwick school three weeks to create, was on Monday named the winner of the Thiess Services Pty Ltd World Environment Day 2006 Green Dream competition.
Brentwood students gave up time before and after classes and during lunch breaks to work on the recycled masterpiece.
Thiess Services Pty Ltd’s environmental education consultant Christine Dousha said the aluminium art took out the top prize from more than 80 entries submitted by schools throughout Casey and Cardinia.
Ms Dousha said the competition, held for the first time this year, encouraged schools to think about the importance of recycling by creating a piece of art with recyclable materials.
She said schools were expected to source the materials for their artwork from school or home recycling bins and come up with the most unique design using only one type of material.
“We were overwhelmed by the quality of the artwork entered in the competition,” she said.
Art teacher Nadean Griffin, who came up with the concept of the aluminium creation, said the school would spend their prize money planting wetlands.
Ms Dousha said the standard of entries was so high the Cardinia Shire put forward a second Green Dream prize of $500, awarded to Koo Wee Rup Secondary College.
She said the artwork entered in the competition would be on permanent display at the Thiess Services Materials Recycling Facility in Hallam.
Education sessions are held at Thiess Services Materials Recycling Facility in Hallam during school terms and are free to all schools and community groups in Casey, Cardinia and Greater Dandenong.
The sessions provide an insight into how the materials placed in kerbside recycling bins are sorted and converted into a resource.
Anyone who wants more information or to book a session should contact Ms Dousha on 0418 212 222.