Teacher Preparation

Overarching learning goals: Students understand the impact of plastic bag waste on the environment. They begin to take personal responsibility for reducing unwanted packaging and rethink their ideas about waste. Students take action to reduce their personal impact on the environment.

Teacher content information: Plastic can be particularly harmful for the environment. There is a massive amount of plastic waste in our world and unfortunately, it doesn't break down naturally (or 'biodegrade'). No natural process can break it down or make it disintegrate. So it ends up polluting our environment and causing damage to animals. The best thing each of us can do to help address this problem is to reduce our use of plastic. Share some tips with your students.

Humans are producing more waste than ever before in our history on this planet. To make matters worse, the population is growing. As we continue to fill up existing landfill sites, we create a range of environmental problems. Litter and pollution are obvious impacts, but did you know when we dump rubbish that harmful greenhouse gases are also released? This happens when food and green waste rots under mountains of other rubbish. This puts more heat-trapping gases into our atmosphere and this is affecting our climate. For every wheelie bin we fill at school and home there are another 70 wheelie bins full of waste that we never see - waste gases that are produced as a direct byproduct of the waste in that one bin. For more information see Cool Australia's Waste video. But the good news is that not every person on Earth is leaving a mountain of waste behind them. More and more people are becoming aware that making even small changes can have a positive effect.

More information: Waste Fact Sheet, Waste Infographic, Waste Digital Toolbox, Plastic Cheat Sheet.

Lesson and student organisation

Part 1: Tune In - The Majestic Plastic Bag

Step 1:

Prior to this activity, collect a variety of plastic bags to bring to class. Begin this activity by discussing with your students how plastic bags differ because they are meant for different purposes. Use the following questions to guide your discussion:

Have you ever wondered why some plastic bags are stronger than others?
Why do bags from clothing stores tend to be strong and thick, whereas those from your local grocery store are flimsy and thin?
What about those wispy, clear bags you get back with your dry cleaning?
Have you seen plastic bags made from food products? Some stores, including Target, use bags made from cornstarch, a natural product that biodegrades more readily than artificial plastics.
What other natural products could bags be made from? (Examples include rice paper, hessian, hemp and other textiles)

Step 2:

Show your students the following video (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Majestic Plastic Bag from Project GreenBag on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/24861329)

Step 3.

Working independently, ask students to answer the questions and complete the table on the Student Worksheet.

Step 4.

Engage students in a class discussion around their answers, and ask students to think about what plastic items used in the classroom could be replaced by items not made from plastic and how students could make these changes.

Part 2: Act - Enviroweek Waste Warrior Project Action Planning

The aim of the Waste Warrior Action is for students to explore their day-to-day wastage and encourage others to make better waste management choices. Students will begin to understand that their waste footprint can be drastically reduced by making better choices about resource use.

The fun part of Enviroweek is allowing your students to decide on the school's planned waste reduction activities. This places students in charge of their own learning and enables learning to occur in a real-world context.

Step 1:

Introduce the Waste Warrior Action to students outlining the aims, the date that Enviroweek commences, and the specific environmental benefits that their participation will achieve. For your reference, Table 1 demonstrates the CO₂e savings created by cutting back on our use of particular types of resources.

Step 2:

Talk to your students about the many different activities that can be undertaken for this Action. You can use Table 2 as a guide. As they plan their activities, encourage students to think outside the box, but ensure that the details are aligned with SMART goal design principles: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound.

Students can plan their Enviroweek Waste Warrior Action for their whole school, for one year level, one class or just for their group. As students plan their activities they can use the Student Worksheet to guide them.

Step 3:

Organise your students into small groups and encourage them to take on different roles which suit their strengths and learning styles. Set a timeline for their group's planning to be completed. Ensure that this is done well before the start date of Enviroweek so you have time to seek approval, advertise the event and solve other organisational issues.

Table 2: Waste Warrior challenge ideas for students during Enviroweek

Waste free lunches	Rubbish free lunches result in reduced litter while encouraging students to eat more natural whole foods. Provide your students with a letter for their parents/guardians that explains the rubbish free lunch and suggested menu items.
No paper waste week	Encourage teachers and students to do double sided printing or avoid printing altogether. Students can use their workbooks rather than printed worksheets. They can also recycle paper for other uses such as composting and mulching.
Whole school waste audit	Measure and improve your school's waste before and after Enviroweek. Get the students to think about the best ways to reduce waste, based on your pre-Enviroweek data.
Plastics-free week	Ban the use of water bottles, straws or other plastic items from use during this week. Students can think about where they use plastic in their day to day lives - such as when they buy things from stores or in food wrappings. Say 'No thanks' to plastic bags.
Waste fashion show	Students can design their own fashions during this fun week of action. Students hold a fashion show on the last day of EnviroWeek. Make sure you take plenty of photos.
Waste art gallery	Hold a waste art competition where students make artwork out of litter. Alternatively, students can collect school yard waste and display it as an art installation to demonstrate the type and volume of waste in the local community.
World's biggest recycled paper chain	Raise awareness by making a paper chain with the paper waste from the school. See if it reaches right around the school or classroom. Make sure you use glue rather than staples and then turn your paper chain into worm food.
Weighing in	Students take the measurements of one of the school's outdoor bins. From these measurements, they calculate the volume of the bin. They should use either litres or kilograms as units of measurement. They estimate the total volume of waste the bins can contain by counting all the bins in the school and doing a calculation. They can record the level of rubbish in each bin and arrive at an estimate of the total volume of rubbish for an average day or week. They can manipulate these figures further by dividing the total by the number of students in the school to arrive at an approximation of rubbish per student. The results of this study can be published or displayed a part of a campaign aimed at highlighting personal responsibility for waste reduction.
Hold a swap shop	Share your stuff Bring a pre-loved book, toy, uniform or clothing and swap it Trade home-grown produce, plants and seedlings How to host a swap party
Trade skills, time and space	Older students mentor young students for toy repair, gardening and reading Everyone pitches in for a school-yard clean up

You may not be able to undertake all the ideas your students come up with for Enviroweek. Decide as a class which ones you can implement. Don't forget to document your Enviroweek journey with pictures and videos!

Part 3: Share

Student will use the information and skills they learn during the Waste Warrior Action to take an active role in communicating their achievements to the school community.

In small groups, students are to develop a campaign to convince the school community to continue to reduce their waste footprint. The aim is to encourage people to reconsider how much waste they personally produce and offer them solutions. Have students decide upon the key message of the campaign, which should include the specific CO₂e savings from undertaking one or more Enviroweek activities.

Students are to plan, rehearse and deliver their presentation to their target audience. They should aim to influence and engage the audience by using persuasive language techniques and by varying their vocal tonality, pitch, and pace. They may want to use elements such as music and props in their presentation. The campaign should result in one of the following:

Poster, logo, slogan, radio jingle, advertisement, letter, info-graphic or Prezi presentation.

Other ways to share

Share what you have done in the school newsletter or the local paper.
Explain your project at a school assembly.
Share what you have done with parents, cleaners, the school council or the school leadership team.

Extension

As a form of assessment, encourage your students to create a YouTube clip that can be used to tell your school's Enviroweek story.

Enviroweek - Waste Warrior Challenge

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