Make the case

What is waste?

• View the ABC video Weigh your waste (2:10min). Consider the statement, 'It's not waste until you waste it'.
• View the Behind the News video, Landfill, (3:07min) to learn the journey of waste from bin to landfill.
• View the ABC Splash video Reducing landfill waste (2:46min) and create a flow diagram for waste.

'War on waste'

• View the ABC Digibook War on Waste video clips. Use the sentence starters, 'I used to think' and 'Now I think' to reflect on each of the videos.
• Learn about some strategies for reducing waste.
• Learn about ways to reduce food waste at Love Food Hate Waste. Can you think of a promotion or advertising campaign to reduce food waste in your school?

Reducing waste at school

• View the YouTube video Wipe Out Waste at school program – Behind the News (3:43min).
• Read some Top tips to live greener at school.
• In a school you can investigate waste in a number of areas, such as, 'refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle', composting and worm farms, litter and stormwater, waste disposal and green purchasing.
• Read the Tasmanian Rethink waste program for tips on reducing, reusing and recycling.

Waste as a resource

• View the YouTube video Cringella Public School – Live life well (1:35min). Create a flow-chart to show the circular journey of collected fruit scraps at the school.
• Find out about the principles of a circular economy.
• The principles of a circular economy can be applied to waste by avoiding waste, improving resource recovery, increasing use of recycled materials, managing material flows and improving information.
• Learn about what happens to waste at Kimbriki resource recovery centre.
• Read excerpts from Australia's national waste policy 2018.

Prepare for a school waste audit

• View the YouTube videos Terara's war on waste and War on waste – waste sorting (above).
• Read the Guide to conducting a school waste audit – Stages 2 to 5 (DOCX 1.1MB).
• Refer to other waste audit resources.

Identify waste streams

Schools waste streams include:

• general waste
• organic waste
• paper recycling
• e-waste
• co-mingled recycling.

Interview stakeholders

Ask school staff questions about their actions to avoid waste, what they do with waste and how they'd like to see waste managed in the school.

Talk to:

• your teachers
• your school administration officers
• the person who looks after the school grounds
• the canteen staff
• your school principal and executive staff.

Conduct a waste audit

As a class, conduct a waste audit to assess the waste generated by your school. Audit a representative sample of school waste such as classroom and playground bins for one area of the school.

Waste audit procedure

• Label large buckets or tubs with the waste categories of office white paper, compostable organic waste (fruit and vegetable scraps), recyclable paper and cardboard, recyclable containers (drink bottles and cans) and mixed waste (non-recyclable)
• Spread out a large plastic tarpaulin, placing the containers on the corners
• Allocate 'recorders' to record weights and keep a tally of the number of tubs per category
• Equip 'waste sorters' with plastic gloves and tongs
• Tip the contents of the selected bins onto the tarpaulin
• Sort the waste into the waste stream categories
• Weigh the contents of each tub and record the weights
• Tally the number of tubs to calculate volumes of waste
• Calculate the percentages of each waste category based on weight and volume
• Analyse and evaluate the results and propose strategies for reducing waste.

Conduct a paper purchase survey

Conduct a survey on purchasing and consumption to evaluate if your school can be more environmentally friendly.

Survey:

• the variety of paper products used in the school on a daily basis, such as copy paper, art paper and paper towels
• the percentage of recycled content in the school's paper products
• the quantity of copy paper used by students and staff over a week
• how paper is used in the school over a week
• what happens to copy paper after it used. Is the blank side re-used? Does it go into a paper recycling bin?
• ways in which your school could improve its practice.

Analyse waste audit results

• What percentages of recyclable waste did you find in your school waste audit?
• What other types of waste did you find in the bin?
• Was there a particular 'problem item' such as single-use plastics?
• What ideas do you have to address the problem?

Waste and litter campaigns

• Conduct a two hands clean up survey in your school grounds to identify playground litter and its sources.
• Investigate campaigns such as Return and earn NSW, Clean up Australia, Mobile muster, Take 3 for the sea and National recycling week. Find other Planet Ark campaigns.
• Find out about E-waste recycling drop-off points in Australia.

SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production

• Interpret the graphs and waste stream flowcharts in Australia's National waste report 2018.
• Find out about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Read the progress on Sustainable Development Goal 12 – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

School waste

• The lifecycles of products can be shown as illustrated flowcharts called product road maps. Refer to the Managing our school waste road map then create a road map of school waste management for your school.

General waste

• View the General waste road map. Is it a linear, re-use or circular economy?
• Reflect on the percentage of your school's waste that goes to landfill. What strategies could be implemented to reduce the percentage?

Paper waste

• Find out how paper products are recycled at school. Is copy paper recycled separately to cardboard? Are there classroom systems that enable the blank side to be re-used? Are there classroom recycling bins? Are there playground recycling bins for clean paper bags?
• View the You Tube video animation, Closing the paper loop (1:18min). Draw a flowchart or create an animation of paper recycling in your school. Can your school close the paper loop?

Organic waste

• Find out about organic waste systems that can be established at school such as composting, worm farms and keeping chickens.
• View the ABC Splash video Want to build a worm farm or a chook shed? (4:56min) to find out ways to recycle food waste.
• Read about the environmental impacts of global food wastage.