FOCUS AREA: WASTE Activities

Transcription

1 Focus Area WASTE

2 Activities List the products that your school buys, for example: office materials, tuckshop goods, classroom items, paints, cleaning products, gardening needs, white goods. Analyse and describe the contents and packaging. Solutions? Can the school research and use environmentally friendly brands? Assign an area of the school grounds to an action group. After lunch one day, survey all bins in each area and record how much rubbish each contains: empty, half-full, full? Do this on different days of the week and see if there are any differences. If so, why? Conduct a random waste audit of a few lunch boxes to determine how much waste is approx created from the whole class, year level, school. Students draw their own healthy and zero waste lunch. Display in hall or classroom. Holy Spirit School: No Food Scraps. The school has purshased and implemented a Biogen system. Year 6 is responsible for collecting the disposable waste (any food that we can eat) and placing it into Homer to be recycled. Conduct a class or school lunch waste audit. Document the rubbish by identifying specific waste paper, plastic, glass, other. Use Keep Queensland Beautiful s Waste Audit Data Collection Sheet to record findings. Organise zero waste lunch days where students and staff need to bring lunches with no disposable packaging. Create a waste management plan/policy See Communication section of this Resource Kit assess what is being recycled, wasted (through a waste audit) in your school, and develop recycling plans for each recyclable item. The waste management plan should include collection within the school, reduction processes and regular collection from a recycling agent. Develop school policies about general waste management. School policies on double-sided photocopying, paper use and reuse, refilling ink cartridges and composting/worm farming of organic waste etc. Nudgee Beach Environmental Education Centre: Well placed, extremely well presented and promoted recycle bins and facilities with clear signage. Blue: Paper and Cardboard recycling; Red: General Waste; Yellow: Commingle and Green: Organics. 20

3 Activities Work out how much rubbish could be reduced if the school minimised waste and followed the 4 Rs principle. Determine what the financial savings would be. What is done with tuckshop waste? Is organic waste compost or placed in a worm farm? Are plastics, cardboard, paper and metals recycled? What does the tuckshop use for packaging? Evaluate packaging especially in the tuckshop in your school. Does the packaging create a litter problem and add to waste management costs? Develop signage and public awareness initiatives to promote aspects of how the school supports the 4 Rs principle. Set up compost and worm farm facilities for organic waste so the resulting compost and worm castings are used in the school gardens. Collect useful items for use in art and craft and as containers: paper, card and material off-cuts, wool, wood, containers and old cd s. Contact your local council s community development officer. They may be able to provide contact details for various community groups or assist in providing community-based resources. Volunteer to help a community group or organise a fundraising drive. Invite representatives from waste management companies to talk to your school community. Seek their advice on products that can be reused or recycled. Invite a representative from Keep Queensland Beautifu to talk to students in an assembly or to do a consultation visit. Challenge a class (or more) to keep a waste diary for a week, tracking trashed food by recording what is thrown away after every meal, the reason for chucking it and how much is being tossed. Also write down where the food went - did you compost it, feed it to the dog, dump it down the drain or toss it in the garbage bin? This can be done again at later date to do a comparison. Analyse! Set up a second-hand uniform clothing pool and hold a used textbook sale. Is it possible to develop some fundraising aspect with the recycling processes by collecting ink cartridges for refilling? Consider establishing a school-wide recognition system or award/badge to recognise and reward students who are active in the community. Encourage community groups or organisations to visit the school to discuss various topics. They may be able to provide advice and expertise and offer opportunities for students to gain valuable hands-on experience. Nudgee Beach Environmental Education Centre: their Composters at Work sign clearly states the location of the compost drum and tumbler as well as their worm farm on the right. 21

4 Websites Get connected through social media! Like us on Facebook Cleaner Greener Schools and follow us on Pinterest and Instagram cleanergreener or on Twitter cleanergreener1 to get the latest waste ideas, prevention measures (as well as other focus areas with information on grants, and many other resources, helpful hints and posts about what other schools and the world of sustainability is up to! The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact filled film that looks at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. Other Story of films here as well. Carbon Kids is a program that combines the individual actions of children and young people into a united force for environmental protection. SITA provides waste services, educational resources, fact sheets, monitoring tools, battery and fluorescent recycling and waste audits tools as well as bins for purchasing or For school educational resources: site-tours-education/education-centres/ Kuranda College: For the last 5 weeks of Term 2, 2012 Kuranda College launched and embarked on a huge campaign to promote Litter Free Lunches. Awareness and promotion was achieved through newsletters, s, school webpage, posters, Kuranda newspaper, teacher s encouragement, school captains, Junior Council Reps, and a separate letter home. During this 5 week period, new compost buckets were placed at eating areas and all children were educated about what can and can t be placed in to the buckets. Biodegradable food scraps, cardboard and paper bags were sent to the school s Compost Bins. Ollie Saves the Planet Join Ollie and his friends as they Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rethink their actions in the areas of Waste, Water, Energy... Planet Ark works to show people the many ways they can reduce their day to day impact on the environment. Don t dump it, recycle it! This is the Planet Ark and Sensis Recycling Near You website. or BIN SIGNAGE! Do the Right Thing, Use the Right Bin signs through the Queensland Government to reduce littering at your school. raising_materials_for_public_place_recycling.htmlg.html Cansmart - the steel can recycling website. 22

5 Websites The Brisbane Produce Market has a program (Kids Go Fresh & Eat Healthy) that takes on a whole-of-community focus by getting schools, parents, tuckshops and the local greengrocer involved. It includes free school presentations, resources and promotions for teachers and tuckshops as well as website information and activities. For great recipes and healthy eating ideas, sign up for the monthly Fresh Inspirations enewsletter. Also find information about the greengrocers nearest you. Healthy lunches have less litter and less waste! Zero Waste Lunch information for parents, teachers and kids. Search the App store with the words lunch ideas and you can download healthy zero waste lunch ideas from Laptop Lunches Bento-wear for free! Great resource for students, teachers and parents. It even generates a shopping list! Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation believes the creation and care of a Kitchen Garden teaches children about the natural world, about its beauty and how to care for it, how best to use the resources we have, and an appreciation for how easy it is to bring joy and wellbeing into one s life through growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing fresh, seasonal produce. Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County s website provides resources to educate about solid waste technologies and the benefits of waste reduction practices Brisbane City Council has two fantastic games online Lunch Time Legends and Worm World to help educate students on waste and recycling. Dirt Girl has a lot going on! Games, clubs, scrap blog, growing clubs, videos and more. All focused on the environment and reducing waste. Also can be downloaded as an App. The Green Event Book website is an excellent resource if you are holding an event that you want to be more sustainable. They have a number of online tools, resources and checklists that can be downloaded. Follow the instructions and download this free Waste Audit tool from Source Separations Solutions. They also have a number of recommended waste source systems for school campuses. 23