Waste production

at the school

A research made by students from IES Comarcal, Burjassot (Spain)

How much waste do we produce in our school?

A collaborative work:

● Comenius team

● Students from 2nd A,B

Let’s get down to work!

Students from 2A and 2B picked up all the waste produced in one day.

Waste was collected in classrooms, corridors, teachers’ offices,....

….and also in the playground

Bags were emptied

...and the waste was separated.

Paper, plastic, aluminium and organic matter.

Then, they weighed...

...all the different types of waste

These are all the bags of the different types of waste that were collected in our school in one day

This is what we found

out

TYPE OF WASTE ONE DAY(Kg)

ONE SCHOOL YEAR :178 days

(Kg)PERCENTAGE

(%)

PAPER 5,56 969,68 45,45

ALUMINIUM 0,48 85,44 3,92

PLASTIC 2,80 498,4 22,88

ORGANIC MATTER 3,40 605,2 27,75

TOTAL 12,24 2.178,72 100

Let’s analyze the results

PAPER

PAPER WASTE

TYPE OF WASTE

ONE DAY(Kg)

ONE SCHOOL YEAR:

178 days (Kg)

PERCENTAGE(%)

PAPER 5,56 969,68 45,45%

How do we produce so much paper waste at our school?

● When we use paper for notes and then throw it away.

● When we don’t use both sides of each sheet of paper.

● When we use cardboard and other paper materials in subjects like art and technology.

What is paper made of?

Paper is made of cellulose fibers, wood (trees), filler, water and chemicals.

In response to the results from our school1 tree 58.85 kg of paper

17 trees 1 ton of paper

IES Comarcal survey results969.68 kg of paper waste/58.85kg = 16.48 trees in one year

This means that all the paper we throw away in one school year amounts to 16,5 trees!!

What can we do?

● We can reduce the consumption of paper.

● We can re-use paper for notes or we could re-use it to make funny arts and crafts.

● We can recycle paper bythrowing it to into thecorrect container.

Advantages of recycling

● We will save some trees from being cutted down.

● Energy consumption is reduced by 65%

● If we recycle 1 kg of paper, we will save 270L of water.

PLASTIC

PLASTIC WASTE

TYPE OF WASTE ONE DAY (Kg)

ONE SCHOOL YEAR :

178 days (Kg)

PERCENTAGE(%)

PLASTIC 2,80 498,4 22,88%

How do we produce so much plastic waste at school?

We produce plastic when we throw bottles, snack bags, pens, tipex, etc... into the bin

What is plastic made of?

Plastic is made:● directly from oil

● by using residues of recycled plastic containers

● from renewable biomass sources (corn and pea starch)

Impacts on the environment due to the production of plastic

Factories pollute ● water (liquid residues)

● air (by emitting CO2 and other gases)

The time it takes for plastic to be destroyed by nature

Plastic dolls:300 years

Plastic bags:500 to 1000 years

Plastic bottles:100 to 1000 years

Yogurt pots, plugs and straws:100 years

What is saved by recycling plastic?

1 kg of recycled plastic saves ● 1 kg of Ethylene

(a petroleum derived substance)

● 39.3 L of water

● 2.5 kg of CO2

● 5 kw of energy

In response to the results from our schoolIf we reduce the use of plastic or we use recycled plastic, in one school year we will save:

● Almost 500 kg of Ethylene● 19.500 L of water● 1.250 kg of CO2

● 2.500 kw of energy

What can we do?

● Use reusable bags

● Replace our plastic water bottle for metallic ones

● Bring our snack in plastic lunch boxes instead of in plastic bags or tin foil.

ALUMINIUM

ALUMINIUM WASTE

TYPE OF WASTE

ONE DAY(Kg)

ONE SCHOOL YEAR

178 days (Kg)

PERCENTAGE(%)

TIN FOIL 0,48 85,44 3,92%

How do we produce aluminium waste at our school?

We produce it with the tin foil we wrap our sandwiches in.

What is the tin foil made of?

It is mainly made of a mineral called Bauxita

Bauxita

Impacts on the environment due to tin foil production

Mining Bauxita greatly impacts ● our landscape

● the ecological balance (by damaging species)

● water in rivers and lakes

● human being’s health

The time that nature needs to destroy aluminium waste

Nature takes 10 years to convert a can into iron oxide.

What is saved by recycling aluminium

1 Kg of aluminium = 4 Kg of bauxita

1 Kg of aluminium = 6.9965 Kg of carbon dioxide

1 Kg of aluminium = 16.0 Kw of energy

Following the results of our school

If we reduce the use of aluminium we would save:

● 342 kg of bauxita

● almost 600 kg of CO2

● 1.370 kw of energy

What can we do?

● Reduce the consumption by using other

packagings for snacks such as re-usable plastic containers.● Reduce the consumption of canned products.

ORGANIC WASTE

ORGANIC WASTE

TYPE OF WASTE

ONE DAY(Kg)

ONE SCHOOL YEAR :

178 days (Kg)

PERCENTAGE(%)

ORGANIC MATTER

3,40 605,2 27,75%

How do we produce organic waste at our school?

We produce organic waste at school when we throw our un-eaten sandwiches into the bin.

What can we do?

Bring a smaller sandwich orhave a bigger breakfast.

CONCLUSIONSAs you have seen, we must use these materials more wisely, because little by little we are destroying the environment.

For this reason we must use the three Rs rule:

educe

e-use

ecycle

SPANISH COMENIUS TEAM

Maria ExpósitoRaquel CortezClara ZamoraCarol Martínez Paula Vicente

Mireia PovedaVictoria BravoVicent Úbeda Andreu RuedaNoelia Risueño

IES COMARCAL Burjassot