Our Stuff, Our Waste

 
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Our Stuff, Our Waste

Prepare your class to take a good look at all the stuff they have, and all the stuff they throw away!

Programme outline – One hour

Students will engage in a discussion about the things we buy every day and what eventually happens to them. They will look at the lifecycle of a product, working in groups to investigate a specific object and consider what went into making it. The students will then consider what happens to it at the end of its life, at which point they will be introduced to key waste disposal methods. Students will learn about the value of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and how they can apply this easy concept to reduce their impact on the environment. Through a hands-on activity, they will learn about good recycling practices and being conscious consumers. Some pre-workshop activities for your class

Some pre-workshop activities for your class

Ask your students to make a ‘stuff’ inventory of their room. Can they put their stuff into different categories i.e. wood, plastic, precious, durable?

  • Do they know where they all came from?

  • Have a ‘show and tell’ session where students talk about one of their special taonga and its history. Why is it special to them?

  • Investigate how the following materials are made:

    • Paper

    • Cardboard

    • Glass

    • Aluminium

    • Cans

    • Plastic

    • Cotton fabric

    • Woollen fabric

    • Polar fleece

  • Have a talk to the school caretaker and find out what they do every day to take care of the schools waste. Can the class do anything to help?

  • Choose a common material and write a story about a world where that material no longer exists. What might they use to replace it?

  • What might no longer exist?

Some post-workshop activities for your class

Take a look at your class’s waste disposal systems. What types of bins are set up?

Find out about this code used on different types of plastic:

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  • What do the symbols mean?

  • How are the different types of plastics made?

  • Which plastics can be recycled in Wellington?

  • How are they recycled?

Do a waste audit of your class. Wearing disposable gloves, have your students sort through one day’s waste and separate out all of the different materials to answer the following questions:

  • Are we using our bins correctly?

  • Is anything in the wrong bin?

  • How much does all of our waste weigh?

  • What percentage of our waste is:

    • Glass

    • Recyclable

    • Plastic

    • Paper or Cardboard

    • Food

    • Metal

    • Compostable

  • How much waste would we produce in an entire week?

  • What about an entire year? How can we find out? What could we do to reduce the amount of waste we send to the landfill?

  • Take a field trip to the landfill, and find out what they do with waste.

  • Organise a ‘Trash to Treasure’ stall where students can sell things (after asking their parents) that they are no longer using to fundraise for a special treat or cause.

+ Curriculum Links

  • Science (Nature of Science + Living World + Planet Earth and Beyond)
  • Social Studies
  • Technology (Technological Practice, Nature of Technology, Technological Knowledge)

+ Key Competencies

  • Managing Self
  • Participating and Contributing
  • Using languages, symbols, and text
  • Thinking
  • Relating to others

+ Learn more about these cool Wellington businesses who are trying to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills:

  • The Tiny Plastic Factory
  • Rebicycle
  • Kai Cycle
  • Kaibosh
  • Sew Good Co op
  • Wishbone Design
  • The Formary
 
Guest UserSustainability Trust