The “Thinking Beyond The Bin” education resource takes a closer look at the waste generated in the classroom and school environment, with a particular focus on school lunches.

This resource is designed to take students from an introduction of natural resource and their uses, to what happens to something when we are finished with it, to ways to conserve, prevent, compost and recycle.

Objectives

  • To reduce the percentage of waste generated in school lunches
  • To provide a set of simple actions and tools for schools (and households) to reduce their school lunch waste
  • To increase the number of schools using environmentally friendly waste disposal methods eg reduction, composting, worm farming, bokashi and recycling.

Chapters

Chapter One – Where does our waste go?

This chapter takes students on an introduction of natural resources and their uses, through to what happens to something when we are finished with it.

Chapter Two – Get in the Loop

This chapter teaches students that there more than just 3 R’s and encourages them to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink!

Chapter Three – Packaging

This chapter helps students to identify how people are influenced to buy products through advertising and looks at the negative aspects of over-purchasing or buying over-packaged products.

Chapter Four – Create your own Eden

Over half of the waste generated in the school environment is organic.  This chapter looks at ways to reduce and recover food waste and garden waste at school through methods such as composting, worm farming and bokashi.