The Castlemaine school's staff member and parent Kitty Ward said the students chosen to attend the ResourceSmart Schools award ceremony at the MCG on June 2 were "very excited".

"The build up was quite a few weeks and as soon as they knew they were going, they were extremely excited," Ms Ward said.

"On the way down, they wrote a speech in the car just in case we did win because they wanted to talk about all the amazing things our school does.

"The students here are very passionate because we've been a ResourceSmart school for so long, and we were ResourceSmart school of the year back in 2015.

"It's just part of the culture!"

Sustainability Victoria supports schools across the state through the free ResourceSmart Schools program which ranks Winters Flat as a five-star school, the highest rating possible.

Ms Ward explained that it was through this focus on sustainability that the students first focused in on plastic fruit stickers.

"Last year, a couple of classes were doing their gardening class and they go through the compost and they sift it to process the compost and that way they can then put it back out into the garden," she said.

"And as they were doing that, through the sieve, these stickers kept turning up and not being able to filter through.

"They were 12 months plus old and they had not broken down - they still looked exactly as how they would have been put in on the peel."

The students were already very aware of waste, being surrounded by the school's worm farms, composting, chickens, insect hotels and recycling system, and the rubbish they produce is usually limited.

"So the students were frustrated, and they were cross," Ms Ward said.

"They were trying to wonder, you know what they could do about the situation."

With the support of teachers Helen Weir, Bianca Alverez and Terry Willis students began collecting stickers and sending them off with letters to politicians, groups like the Fruit Growers Association, local supermarkets and councils.

The aim was to get biodegradable stickers on fruit, replacing the plastic that while small was in such large quantities that it could cause big problems for the planet.

"The response from Lily D'Ambrosio was that they currently have a plan around tackling plastic pollution," Ms Ward said.

"And that means that plastic items like straws cutlery, like food and drink containers will be banned in Victoria by February 2023.

"At this point in time stickers aren't included in that ban, but that was the response from her.

"And then the Fruit Growers Association just acknowledged that stickers were used for the traceability from the tree to the consumer and they're currently trialing ways that do not include plastic."

The students from Winters Flat Primary will continue to fight to get needless plastic off fruit and this most recent recognition is another boost in their green mission.

For other schools looking to improve sustainability, Ms Ward said to get multiple people on board and start small - and then you can make a big difference.

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