debec elementary school - waste audit summary

8/11/2019 Debec Elementary School - Waste Audit Summary

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Debec

Elementary

School: WasteAudit Summary

October 23nd, 2013

The Gaia Project

270 Rookwood Ave

Fredericton, NB

E3B 2M2

1 (506) 442-9030

www.thegaiaproject.ca

[email protected]


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Debec Elementary School: Waste Audit Summary

A summary of the results from the waste audit conducted on October 23rd, 2013.

Copyright 2013 The Gaia Project. Last updated on October 23rd, 2013.

Commercial reproducon of The Gaia Project materials is prohibited without prior wrien permission.

The Gaia Project is a charitable organizaon dedicated to providing project-based learning opportunies in

the areas of energy, environment and sustainable engineering.

We develop projects, provide professional development, technical support and ongoing project support for

teachers and students. Our projects aim to incorporate three key principles, which symbolise our focus on

realisc environmentalism.

1. Data-Informed Decisions We want students to be able to explain why, and quanfy the eect of

each decision they made along the way to their nal soluon.

2.

Economic Assessments We expect students to be able to assess the cost eecveness of their so-

luons, and be able to opmize their projects with limited budgets.

3. Environmental Impact and Lifecycle Assessments We need students to take a holisc view to their

projects. This means looking at their projects from cradle to grave, as opposed to just examining the

use phase, and acknowledging that greenhouse gas reducon is not the only environmental issue at

stake.

For more informaon, please visit www.thegaiaproject.ca

The Gaia Project

270 Rookwood Ave

Fredericton, NB

E3B 2M2

Canada

1 (506) 442-9030

[email protected]

The Gaia Project is supported by donaons and grants from:

NB Power

EcoAcon Community Funding ProgramEnvironment Canada

Environmental Trust FundGovernment of New Brunswick

Saint John Energy

The McCain Foundaon

The Harrison McCain Foundaon

PromoScience ProgramNaonal Science and Engineering Research Council

Front Cover Credits

Wheelie BinsCaledonia Lane photo by Geof Wilson under a Creave Commons BY-ND 2.0 Licence

The Gaia Project www.thegaiaproject.ca


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WasteAuditSummary

Overview

The Gaia Project collaborated withGrade 4 and

5 students at Debec Elementary School to

conduct a waste audit on October 23rd, 2013.

The process, results, and recommendaons are

detailed herein.

The Process

The Gaia Project and Debec Elementary

students started o the morning talking about

energy, consumpon and the waste hierarchyreduce, reuse and recycleand why each of

these are important, and how they might relate

to the waste audit we were planning. We

discussed what kinds of things they would

typically nd in the classroom garbage cans,

and used this to decide on sorng classes in

which to separate the waste.

Sorting classes

We decided on 6 sorng classes:

Returnable drink containers (included

milk containers)

Recyclable plascs

Paper and cardboard

Compostable material

Garbage

Metals

Collecting the GarbageThe custodial sta collected all of the garbage

at the school on October 22nd , bagged it and

placed it outside for us. Each bag of waste was

labelled according to its locaon at the school.

It was decided to sort each of the following

locaons for garbage collecon as follows:

Kindergarten/Grade 1

Grade 2/3

Grade 4/5

Sta/Oce

Washroom

To evaluate the eecveness of recycling at the

school, paper/cardboard recycling and

returnable drink containers were also collected

and weighed separately.

Students were divided into groups, and gloves

were provided to all students along with a

safety orientaon. Groups then opened thebags and sorted its contents.

We subsequently weighed the contents of each

sorng category at the end of each sorng

session. The data from each group was entered

into an excel spreadsheet so that we could

build a picture of how much waste the school

produces in a day from each of the six sorng

classes. The results are detailed below.


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Results

You can nd the actual weight from each

sorng class (our raw data) in Table 1 in the

Appendix. The total percentage of waste by thevarious sorng categories can be seen in

Graphs 1 & 2. Graph 1 shows waste by type,

excluding the recycling. Graph 2 shows waste

by type, and includes the collected recycling.

Charts summarizing the waste audit by grade

and locaon can be found in the Appendix.

Finally, the amount of waste collected and

sorted into each category has been projected

forward to provide an esmate of the waste

produced on an annual basis.

Using the assumpon of 195 school days a year,

the annual projected amount of total waste is

2,500 kg. The break down of waste can be

found in Table 2 in the Appendix. These are

very rough esmate of the total waste theschool produces each year.

Summary

Through the process of measuring how much

and what type of waste at Debec Elementary

School it was discovered that (Graph 1):

36% of the waste was compostable

material.

41% of the waste could have been

recycled. This includes:

Paper and cardboard (27%)

Recyclable plascs (9%)

Metals (2%)

Returnable drink containers

(including milk containers)(3%).

Only 23% of the waste was actual

garbage that needed to be there.


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WasteAuditSummary

When auding the recycling that was currently

being done at Debec Elementary, it was

discovered that (Graph 2):

25% of the total waste was being

recycled. This includes:

Paper and cardboard (23%)

Recycled drink containers (2%)

It is esmated that each year Debec Elementary

diverts 625 kg of waste, or 25% of the total

wastes out of the regular garbage, though its

recycling programs for paper, cardboard and

drink containers. Debec Elementary should be

congratulated on a job well done.

If we found ways to divert all of the recyclable/returnable/compostable materials, Debec

Elementary could reduce their waste by an

addional esmated 2,050 kg. This would

reduce the total amount of waste produced at

the school to less than 450kg, or by 82%.

Paper and Cardboard

Paper and cardboard recycling is underway at

the school. 53% of the paper and cardboard

collected during the sample period was

diverted for recycling, with the remaining 47%

nding its way into the waste stream. The

percent of paper waste and recycled paper can

be seen in Graph 3.

The overwhelming majority of the paper found

in the waste stream was found to be coming

from the sta and oce areas of the school.

These areas accounted for almost 85% of the

paper and cardboard that was not recycled. If

the sta room improved their recycling they

could remove an esmated 420 kg of paper

every school year or 20% of the schools overall

waste.

The percentage of paper waste in Kindergarten

to Grade 3 is almost 0%, and then increases to

3% in Grade 4/5.

Returnable Drink Containers

Currently, 47% of drink containers are beingcollected and recycled / returned for a refund,

as seen in Graph 4. This category include milk

containers, for which no recycling program

currently exists, so the number may be lower

than expected. This category is an opportunity

for improvement as an esmated 60kg of waste

could be diverted from landll annually.

Compostable Material

Thirty percent (36%) of the waste sorted was

compostable material, comprising the largest

category of waste produced at the school

(Graph 1). A large poron of this compostable

material was food and wet paper .

The grade 4/5 classrooms represented the


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single largest source of compost within the

school, although the oce and washrooms

contributed a large poron as well.

Recyclable Plastics

Nine percent (9%) of the waste examined was

recyclable plasc.

The majority of this waste came from the sta /

oce areas of the schooltargeng these two

areas would divert approximately 40% of the

recyclable plascs in the school.

MetalsOnly 2% of the waste was metal, a few paper

clips and a single coat hanger found in the

Grade 4/5 waste. Classroom-based metals are

most likely a rare event represenng a single

large item.

GarbageOnly 23% of the waste we examined actually

needed to go into the garbage. The area of the

school with the largest percentage of waste was

the Grade 4/5 garbage cans, in which a

signicant number of food wrappers could be

found.

Action Plan

Students worked in groups to come up with a

number of ideas to implement at Debec

Elementary School. A summary of these arelisted below, along with the challenges and

strategy for proceeding.

CompostingSince compost represented 36% of the waste

collected, this would be an area of high impact

on the total amount of waste leaving the

school. However, with the new school opening

in 2014, it was proposed to wait to have a

composng system implemented at the new

school. Students could brainstorm on how this

would be operated at the new school and what

sort of educaon program would be required to

get it up and running.

Paper Recycling: Staff / Ofice

AreasResults indicated that starooms are not

recycling paper and cardboard with the same

eecveness as students areas.

Inial steps to increase the rate of paper

recycling in the starooms could involve

students in surveying teachers and sta to

determine the barriers to recycling in these

areas and come up with soluons to addressing

them.

Students also suggested weekly monitoring of

recycling bins in these areas to ensure future

compliance.

Paper Recycling: Improving

Recycling ContainersImproving paper recycling would result in an

esmated 8% decrease in total waste. It was

noted that paper recycling containers are not

idencal in every classrooms (these can be as


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WasteAuditSummary

simple as a cardboard box). While it may not be

praccal at this me to implement a unied

recycling program with the school closing at the

end of this year, several students suggested the

idea of decorang the recycling containers in

order to draw more aenon to them, with the

goal of increased usage.

Waste Bins: Ratios and LocationsIt was noted that mulple garbage cans exist in

certain classrooms. Improving the rao of

recycling containers to garbage cans could help

decrease the waste being produced by the

school. When paired with an awareness

campaign led by students, this increased

recycling bin rao could help reduce the

amount of waste sent to landll.

Accessibility of recycling containers and

garbage cans can play a large role in

encouraging behaviour change. Simply by

placing recycling containers in easier to access

areas, and marginally increasing the eort to

use a garbage can (placing a cover, or smaller

hole on top of the can), can have signicant

impacts in diverng waste to the correct sorngcontainer.

Adding recycling bins for plasc would remove

of 9% or 170 kg of total waste annually.

Assemblies / Announcements

Students proposed that it would be worthwhile

to share with the rest of the school the results

of the waste audit. An eecve way to do this

would be during the schools monthlyassemblies or through weekly announcements

and reminders.

One Bag ChallengeA nal idea was based around the concept of a

One Bag Challenge. The goal of this challenge

would be to reduce the total waste that the

school produces in one day to a single bag. The

one-bag challenge allows the students and sta

to have a strong visual target to aim for,

reinforcing the recycling behaviours they have

been learning about. This could be

accomplished by:

Establishing a single day (or week) that is

designated as the challenge day or week.

In the days or weeks preceding the event,

students can provide informaon

sessions / material to their classmates

and their parents about the challenge.

Allow students and sta to present ideas

on how to achieve the one-bag challenge

goal.

Bringing food in containers

Only taking food to school you will

eat

The One Bag Challenge could be in conjuncon

with a school picnic or other school events.

Summary

Since Debec Elementary will be merging into a

new school in the fall of 2014 , The Gaia Project

suggests that the school focus inially on the

One Bag Challenge and improving the

performance of sta / oce areas in the

exisng paper recycling to have the biggest

impact in a short me period.

The Gaia Project is excited to collaborate and

assist Debec Elementary School in achieving

these goals.


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Contact Us

If you would like more informaon, we would

be happy to discuss anything in this report. We

will be following up with you in the coming

weeks about moving some of these ideas

forward and it has been a pleasure working

with you.

Andrew Holloway

Technical Director

The Gaia Project

270 Rookwood Ave

Fredericton, NB

E3B 2M2

[email protected]

1 (506) 442-9030


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WasteAuditSummary

Appendix

Table2:Summaryofto

talsfortwodayperiod,andprojeconsforfull

yearbasedon195schooldaysperyear(esmatedann

ualresults)

Table1:Rawdatacollec

tedbystudentsshowingwaste

categories,locaonsandweigh

ts

Group

Returnable

DrinkCon-

tainers(kg)

Metals(kg)

RecyclablePlascs

Paper

&Card-

board(kg)

Compostable

(kg)

Ga

r-

bage

(kg)

Total

(kg)

Kindergarten&Grade1

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.5

0.3

0.9

Grade2-3

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.5

0.2

0.8

Grade4-5

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.2

1.0

1.4

2.9

Sta/Oce

0.2

0.0

0.4

2.1

0.7

0.2

3.5

Washrooms

0.0

0.0

0.3

0.2

0.7

0.1

1.3

Total(ExcludingRecy-

cling)

0.3

0.1

0.9

2.5

3.4

2.2

9.4

Recycling

0.3

2.8

3.1

Total(IncludingRecy-

cling)

0.6

0.1

0.9

5.3

3.4

2.2

12.5

SorngClass

Daily(kg)

Annual(kg)

ReturnableDrinkContainers

0.3

60

Metals

0.1

30

RecylablePlascs

0.9

170

Paper&Cardboard

2.5

490

Compostable

3.4

655

Garbage

2.2

430

RecycledDrinkContainers

0.3

55

RecyledPaper

2.8

550

Total

12.5

2500


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debec elementary school - waste audit summary

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