Teacher Preparation

Students will...

... recognise that we all have a responsibility to reduce the amount of solid waste we produce
... understand the waste hierarchy and how it can be used to help us reduce the amount of waste we create
... understand that there are different ways to reduce the amount of waste that we produce.

Students can...

... explain how the waste hierarchy can be used to manage waste
... conduct research to find answers to a series of question
... communicate messages around reducing waste.

Teacher content information: In this activity students will be exploring waste and how to reduce the impact of waste on our environment. A useful tool to help you understand the actions you can take around waste could be the following waste hierarchy image (also available here):

Avoid - This means not doing something in order to cut the waste you will produce.
Reduce - This means buying and using things more carefully so that you produce less waste overall.
Reuse - Means to use more than once for the same or a different purpose.
Repair - Can you fix it before throwing it away?
Recycle - This is the process of making something new from something that has been thrown away.
Dispose - This means putting something in the rubbish/landfill bin should be the last resort.

Teaching Sequence

Step 1

Begin this activity by asking students to share what they already know about waste and what you've discussed about waste in other lessons. Your discussion may include issues such as:

What waste is and where it comes from
Ways to group items of waste
Where different types of waste go.

Explain to students that in this activity you are focusing on why we need to sort waste in the first place and why this is important.

Step 2

Introduce the waste hierarchy with your students talk through how the hierarchy works using the information below (diagram also available here):

Suggested discussion points can be found on the Waste Hierarchy factsheet here.

Optional - You can also explain to students that when items go to landfill they just get buried and never used again. Instead of thinking of waste as something that can be thrown away and sent to landfill, we can start thinking of waste as a resource, as something that can be used to make new items and new products. You could share the following image with students (also available here) to show that if we are clever with thinking about how we can reuse waste, then we don't even really need landfill. This is known as the circular economy:

(Image courtesy of Visy)

Step 3.

Allow some time for your students to read the section on ‘Waste’ (Years 3 and 4) in the Waste Digital Library. Once completed, discuss with your students some of the following questions:

Who should clean up all the litter we produce?
Why do some people think that litter is bad for our environment?
What things can we all do to help reduce the amount of litter that ends up in our environment?
Why don’t we just put all our solid waste in landfills? Why don’t we just leave it on the street or on the floor of the classroom?
What is recycling? Why should we recycle?
How do you store things for recycling at home? How do you store things for recycling at school?
What might the terms ‘Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle’ mean? These are part of the waste hierarchy. Why do you think they might be important?
What things can we all do to help reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill?

Reflection

Ask students to work in pairs to complete the Student Worksheet.

Once complete, engage students in a class discussion around their answers.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Clean Up Australia - Cool Questions About Waste And Recycling

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Summary

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Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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