The bill, titled Classification of Edible Consumables Environmental Footprint Bill 2017, focuses on the environmental effects of producing and packaging food before it actually reaches our supermarket shelves.

To the team’s delight, it was passed through the Youth Parliament unanimously on Tuesday, but only after some heated debates.

“Climate change is a really big issue within Australia and within Victoria,” team member Des Cook said. “We felt a good solution for this would be to use this bill.”

The bill would require food packaging in Victoria to include a label to help show people the environmental footprint of the products they are consuming.

The team wants Victorians to know exactly how far their food has travelled before they buy it, how much water has been used to make the food, and its greenhouse gas footprint.

The students came up with the idea in April and have been writing and perfecting it since.

“We thought it would be a really good idea to bring it into Victorian legislation,” Mr Cook said.

The team believes their bill can have an overwhelmingly positive effect on their community of Castlemaine, and Victoria as a whole.

“Coming from a small town, Castlemaine, it’s big into being fully environmentally friendly,” team member Sidney Showell said.

“We’re very ‘greeny’ and want to try and do the best we can for the environment. Our school canteen was actually based on being better for the environment.”

Run by the YMCA, the Victorian Youth Parliament is in its 31st year.

The college’s representatives hope their efforts at this year’s event will inspire others from their local community to take youth issues more seriously.

“I think it would really help with the community’s pride and knowledge in youth politics,” Mr Cook said. “It would create a lot more insight in youth and politics.”

This year’s success makes it two years in a row that a team from Castlemaine has had legislation accepted by the Youth Parliament of Victoria.