gagetown school: waste audit summary -...

Gagetown School:

Waste Audit Summary October 23, 2012

The Gaia Project 270 Rookwood Ave Fredericton, NB E3B 2M2 1 (877) 442-4136 www.thegaiaproject.ca [email protected]

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Gagetown School: Waste Audit Summary

A summary of the results from the waste audit conducted on October 23rd, 2012.

Copyright © 2012 The Gaia Project. Last updated on October 23rd, 2012.

Commercial reproduction of The Gaia Project materials is prohibited without prior written permission

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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

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

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The Gaia Project 270 Rookwood Avenue Fredericton, NB E3B 2M2 Canada 1 (877) 442-4136 [email protected]

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© The Gaia Project www.thegaiaproject.ca


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Overview

The Gaia Project collaborated with Mrs.

Alexandra Stewart-Francis’ kindergarten class

to audit the waste at Gagetown School on

October 23rd, 2012. The process, results, and

recommendations are detailed herein.

The Process

The goal of the waste audit was to determine

the type and amount of waste produced by the

school. This data will be used to help make

measurable and impactful reductions in waste

at the school, as part of an effort to make the

school more sustainable.

The Gaia Project and students started off the

morning discussing waste, and the waste

hierarchy —reduce, reuse and recycle—and

why each of these are important, and how they

might relate to the waste audit we were

planning.

Students then decided on 5 sorting categories

based on the types of waste they thought we

might find at the school.

Sorting classes We decided on 5 sorting classes:

Drink containers (milk cartons, juice

boxes)

Plastics

Paper

Compost

Garbage

Collecting the Garbage The custodial staff collected all of the garbage

at the school on October 22nd.

Weighing and Sorting After deciding on our 5 sorting classes, students

broke up into 3 groups. Gloves were provided

to all students along with a safety orientation.

Before any bags were opened, the weight of

each bag was recorded so that the starting

amount of waste was known and could be

checked against the final amount.

Groups then opened the bags and sorted its

contents.

October 22nd’s waste at Gagetown School

Gloved and ready for sorting

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We subsequently weighed the contents of each

sorting category at the end of the day. 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 five sorting categories.

Results

The weight from each sorting category (our raw

data) in Table 1 in the Appendix.

The total weight of waste by category can be

seen in the pie chart below.

Finally, the amount of waste collected and

sorted into each category has been projected

forward to provide an estimate of the waste

produced on an annual basis.

Using the assumption of 188 school days a year,

the annual projections can be found in Table 2

in the Appendix. This is a very rough estimate of

1100 kg of waste produced at the school

annually.

Summary

Through the process of measuring how much

and what type of waste Gagetown School

produces, it was discovered that:

27% of the waste was compostable

material

36% of the examine waste was paper

12% of the waste was returnable or

recyclable drink containers like milk

cartons, or juice boxes

21% was plastics

4% of the waste was actual garbage that

needed to be there.

Compost Twenty-seven percent (27%) of the sorted

waste was compostable material.

Mrs. Francis’ class currently composts, and

there are composters on school grounds. The

class was excited about the potential to help

Hard at work sorting waste

The data

12%

27%

21%

36%

4%

Gagetown School: Waste Types

Drink Containers

Compost

Plastics

Paper

Garbage


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other classes start composting, and would like

to make a video. The Gaia Project provided the

school a Flip Video Camera to be able to help

with the making of a video.

Compost is also a potential source of revenue

for students and the school. There is also the

potential for students to sell this compost at

the end of the year to parents and members of

the community.

Paper Approximately one third of the waste was

paper (36%). Students pointed out that

Mondays is pizza day, and that at the moment,

pizza boxes are going into the garbage rather

than being recycled.

We discussed the potential for setting up pizza

box recycling on Mondays.

Drink Containers The school appears to be doing a good job of

recycling drink containers—this category made

up only 12% of the garbage.

In future waste audits, we could also potentially

examine the recycling bins as well as the

garbage to be able to confirm that returnable

drink containers are ending up in the proper

recycling bins.

Students observed that a lot of the drink

containers were milk cartons. Through

discussion, the potential for recycling milk

cartons was raised. For this to begin at the

school, students could work on identifying a

system for milk carton recycling including bins,

and identifying who would bring them to a

recycling facility, or have them picked up at the

school.

Plastics 21% of the examined was plastics. Students

decided to focus efforts on the three previously

described categories for reducing waste, at this

time.

Garbage Only 4% of the examined waste actually needed

to be there! The school is already doing a good

job of eliminating waste coming to the school,

Happy with the results

All sorted

Done!

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though efforts like existing compost and

recycling programs, as well as encouraging

students to bring reusable containers.

Perhaps over the next couple of years, the

school could reduce their waste even more!

Summary

Gagetown School’s kindergarten students have

set at their waste reduction goals the following

three points:

Make a composting video to encourage/

show other classes at the school the how

and why of composting

Find a way to recycle pizza boxes on

Monday

Develop a system to recycle milk cartons

at the school

The Gaia Project is available anytime to help in

implementing these initatives, and to return to

the school in the spring for a follow-up waste

audit.

Contact Us

If you would like more information, we would

be happy to chat. Please get in touch.

Vanessa Paesani, Program Delivery Officer [email protected] Office: 1 (877) 442-4136 x 2 Cell: 1 (506) 471-5566

Mrs. Francis’ kindergarten class


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Table 1. Weight (kg) per sorting category

Table 2. Estimated annual weight (kg) per sorting class

Appendix

Group Drink Contain-

ers (kg) Compost

(kg) Plastics

(kg) Paper (kg)

Garbage (kg)

Total (kg)

1 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.9 0.1 1.6

2 0.2 0.8 0.4 0.5 0.1 2.0

3 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.0 1.5

Total 0.6 1.4 1.1 1.8 0.2 5.1

Sorting Class Daily (kg) Annual (kg)

Drink Containers 0.62 121

Compost 1.37 207

Plastics 1.06 357

Paper 1.83 357

Garbage 0.2 40

Total 5.1 1082

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