Mr Mitchell’s grade 6/7 class collects the compost from each classroom in the school as part of their school chores and puts it in school compost bins. They weighed the compost for 6 classes for the month of November 2017. The total for the month was 35.7kg which means an average is 9kg of compost per week that is being diverted from the landfill! That means over 300kg of waste is being composted and put back into the school gardens instead of going to the landfill every year.
Ms Ritter’s grade 4/5 class found litter on the school ground assessed:
Can this item be: recycled/composted/reused/put in the garbage can instead of left on the school ground?
How this piece of litter could have been reduced? (bringing the item in containers/choosing items with less packaging/making your own snacks)
Why does reducing our waste matter?
Much of what the students found was candy wrappers/granola bar wrappers that go to the landfill. Some wrappers were cardboard and could have been recycled. Some were plastic containers that could have been recycled. Most of the waste could have been reduced by using reusable containers to pack snack/lunch items.
The staff and administration at Canyon Lister School are doing a litter free lunch challenge in the school in 2018. Every time a student brings a litter free lunch to school their name gets entered into a draw box. Every month a name is selected from the draw box and that student’s class gets a pizza party. There are also draws for reusable containers to make it easier for lunches to come to school without packaging. Already students are packing more whole foods and making their own granola bars, cookies and snacks to avoid store bought packaging.
