SLRD Zero Waste Education Program

Students taking action to reduce waste

2011-12-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem to matter what landfill you go to, a common theme is that they are FULL of unnecessary packaging, re-usable or recyclable products. Students in the Squamish Lillooeet Regional District are leading the charge to change this by reducing, re-using, recycling, and re-thinking waste.


Students at the Xit'olacw Community School visit the Mt. Currie Dump and point out a fully functioning bike

Squamish landfill is almost full and a lot of the material is still usable

expansion site at Squamish Landfill

The Squamish landfill, located just north of the community of Squamish is the main landfill in the region servicing Britannia Beach, Furry Creek, Squamish, Pemberton, and Anderson Lake. The garbage pile at the Squamish landfill was reaching its height limit, and there was no liner in place to catch the leachate a.k.a. garbage juice, that flows from the rotting waste. To comply with environmental standards the Squamish landfill has recently undergone a $2million expansion and upgrade. Comparable to the size of 2 official soccer fields, the new landfill expansion site will have a 20m high pile of garbage in 5 years at our current rate of disposal. If you have been to the Squamish Landfill you will know that this space is surrounded by trees, rivers, roads, and homes which means that future expansions are not really an option. Whistler ships their waste by truck and train to the Rabanco Landfill located in Washington State, and Mt. Currie is looking to decommission their landfill soon as 6 of the 10 available pits at this site are full. The other landfill in the region is located in Lillooet, and it serves Lillooet and Goldbridge.

Every single person in the region throws away almost 1 tonne, or 2000 lbs of garbage and recycling every single year - times 1 tonne by the over 54,000 people that call the region home, and you have got yourself a hefty pile. In fact this pile is larger then the the provincial average. The Squamish Lillooet Regional District is working with communities and residents to reduce peoples individual waste by 67%, and students in Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton,Mt. Currie and Lillooet are answering this call.

Ms. Allen's class @ Spring Creek in Whistler make zero waste posters

So far 13 elementary classes have participated in the regional garbage free lunch challenge. Classes explore ways to reduce, re-use, recycle, and re-think their lunch time waste and conduct a "typical" lunch time waste audit. With the help of their parents, students then host a garbage free lunch day and re-audit their waste. So far EVERY class has reduced their waste. Ms. Desbrisay's grade 5/6 class at Myrtle Philip in Whistler showed an 86% reduction and are the top reducers so far going from 112 pieces of waste to 16 pieces on garbage free lunch day. Between 23 students in Ms Carsons 3/4 class at Mamquam Elementary only 6 pieces of garbage needed to thrown out on their garbage free lunch day, and check out this note from Ms. Hain at Stawamus Elementary:

"So you will be happy to hear we are reducing our garbage and have started a compost as well that our TA takes home at the end of the week. We have also organized a Zero Waste Challenge for the school and we are running it this week! Lastly, we have gotten the school to change the lunch program a bit - no more plastic sandwich bags, instead reusable containers, no more paper bags - Save On donated reusable ones, and laminated lunch slips that we use dry erase marker on, instead of throwing them out!" - Ms. Hain, Sqawamus Elementary Grade 4 Teacher

All elementary classes who show a reduction in lunch time waste are entered to win 1 of 10 classroom worm composters. There are still 2 workshop spaces available (if you know any teachers that would like to participate), and the draw for the worm composters will take place in the new year.

developing the plan

The leadership class students at the Xit'olacw Community School in Mt. Currie have also accepted the Zero Waste High school challenge. They visited the Mt. Currie landfill with the Lil'wat Nation Public Works Department, learned about waste management planning, and audited their schools waste. After all this trash talk the students identified the barriers, and bridges to waste reduction for their school and drafted a reduction plan that they will be implementing in the new year. With a $1000 honorarium from the Zero Waste Program the students plan to purchase composters to eliminate organic waste, and second hand cutlery/dishware to eliminate plastic forks, knives, and styrofoam cups in the cafeteria. They also plan on hiring student waste ambassadors who will monitor lunch time waste and educate fellow students on recycling, compost, and re-use practices for the school, as well help the cafeteria ladies with dishes to make sure that cups are returned, and re-usable dishware is taken care of. The leadership class is self producing a video on their waste reduction plan that will be released in the new year...stay tuned.

Students commit to waste reduction

2011-11-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ms. Carson's Class on Garbage Free Lunch da

The Zero Waste Program has been very busy touring elementary schools throughout the region and inviting classes to enter the Regional Garbage Free Lunch Challenge. On the day of the Zero Waste Workshop students have been rolling up their sleeves, digging through their lunch waste, and separating it into the following categories:

disposable plastic sandwich bags
pre-packaged food wrappers (chips, cookies, fruit bars, granola bars, cheeses, and fruit leathers)
single-use containers (yogurts, applesauce, and puddings)
Beverage containers (disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, juice cans, water bottles, and milk cartons)
plastic forks and spoons
straws
paper napkins
disposable paper or plastic lunch bags
organics
fruit stickers
other

The organic sorting team a Spring Creek

Separating the lunch waste in to objects opens up a conversation around waste alternatives. Small yogurt container, granola wrappers and plastic sandwich bags are some of the most common waste items found in our audits. Buying larger yogurt and dishing it into a re-usable container, making your own granola bars, and packing snacks and sandwiches in a lunch kit will significantly reduce students lunch time waste. One of the messiest categories to count is the lunch time organic waste - there is usually a lot of it, and it demonstrates to classes how much landfill space we can save by composting. The chart below compares the total lunch waste from the FIRST (of two) audit for each of the classes that have completed the Garbage Free Lunch Challenge.

Total Lunch Waste in First Audit

A week after the workshops classes host a Garbage Free Lunch Day and re-audit their waste. If classes show a reduction in lunch waste they are entered to win 1 of 10 classroom worm composters. I am pleased to report that every class that has completed the challenge has shown a significant reduction in waste. Classes are still entering the challenge, and more results are coming in. Check out the results so far:

Garbage Free Lunch Day Waste Audit Results

Class	% Waste Reduction
Whistler - Spring Creek, Ms. Hardy	51%
Squamish - Mamquam Elementary, Ms. Carson	81%
Whistler - Spring Creek, Ms. Allen	68%
Pemberton - Signal Hill, Ms. Niet	56%
Pemberton - Signal Hill, Ms. Ross	63%
Whistler - Myrtle Phillp, Ms. Desbrisay	86%

Understanding the complex world of recycling

2011-10-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

Last week the Zero Waste Education Program visited Ms. Allen's grade 4 class at Spring Creek School in Whistler. Ms. Allen's class sorts the recycling for the whole school. As the school recyclers the students were fascinated to learn how the complex world of recycling works.

Often re-usable or recyclable waste is ending up at local landfills. As students learn in the Zero Waste Workshop, the Squamish Landfill (that serves the whole region except Whistler, Goldbridge, and Lillooet) is expanding because there isn't enough room for the growing pile of garbage. At a cost of $2 million, an area the size of two soccer official soccer fields will soon be the new rotting place for regional waste. At the current rate of disposal in only five years the new landfill space in Squamish will be filled with 20m tall pile of garbage. As outlined in this Loop Scoop video, there is a great need to sort, divert, re-use, and recycle waste:

Reducing your waste is the first and most important action that each of us can take - ask yourself do you really need so much stuff? Re-using, and creatively re-purposing waste is another important step on the road to zero waste. After using less, and re-using more, a third step on the zero waste pathway is recycling. Learning what, and how to recycle products however isn't easy - the rules change from town to town, and from one year to the next.

Did you know that the triangles on the bottom of plastic containers doesn't mean that it is necessarily recyclable?
It is a sorting code that indicates what type of plastic it is. Not all types of plastic are recyclable in all areas, it all depends on the market for recycled plastic. Your waste service provider (i.e. Carney's) collects, and sells types of plastic to private industries who recycle it into new products. If there isn't a demand for a given type of plastic, it is not recyclable. Demand varies based on the market, and therefore what we can recycle is also subject to change.

Did you know that even if you recycle plastic it can still end up in the landfill?

Plastics 1 (e.g. dish detergent container) and 2 (e.g. water bottles) are processed for recycling in British Columbia. If the plastic is dirty (i.e. food resin) it will be thrown out. Plastics 1 and 2 that are recycled are broken down and made into non-food related products. This means that there is limited uses for recycled plastics, and any overflow of plastic will be sent to the landfill. Plastics 3-7 are shipped overseas for processing, and the amount that is used vs. thrown out is unknown. In Whistler plastics 1-7 are collected, in the rest of the region plastic 1-5 are collected. While it is very important to clean and recycle plastic, considering not all plastic gets recycled, it is more important to reduce your use of plastic.

Did you know that excess plastic is forming giant waste islands?

As unwanted plastic finds it home in our worlds landfills, the natural flow of our planets water is picking up pieces of plastic, and ocean currents are driving these pieces of plastic to converge on shores, and plastic islands. Check out this photo of the plastic island that exists between Hawaii and California, and is double the size of the state of Texas.

To avoid plastic islands, and expanding landfills we need to first reduce our waste, we need to think of new and creative ways to re-purpose our waste, and we need to divert, sort, and recycle any waste that is produced. For more information on the complex world of recycling check out the Recycling Council of BC website where you can search by item if, and where recycled items are accepted for any town in British Columbia.

This week the Zero Waste Program is heading to Pemberton to talk trash with Ms. Ross's grade 4 class, and Ms. Neit's 4/5 class at Signal Hill Elementary. Also results from the garbage free lunch challenge are starting to come in. Ms. Carsons Class at Mamquam Elementary went from 34 pieces of lunch waste, down to 10 pieces of lunch waste, and are now entered to win a classroom worm composter!

The Challenge Begins

2011-10-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Last week, through the Zero Waste Program, I had some AWESOME trash talk with three enthusiastic classes in the Squamish Lillooet Regional District (SLRD). Ms. Carson’s grade 3/4 at Mamquam Elementary in Squamish, Ms. Hardy's grade 5 French class at Spring Creek in Whistler, and Mr. Lane's grade 4 class at Cayoosh Elementary in Lillooet all participated in the Zero Waste Workshop.

Lunch waste from Mamquam Elementary

The Zero Waste Workshop explores with students where their waste goes, and examines what it means to reduce, re-use, recycle, and re-think waste. Ms. Carson's class has been talking about garbage free lunches for some time, and I was thrilled see such a small pile of waste produced in their lunch (Right). Any lunch waste that these students bring is usually taken back home at the end of the day. Students were proud of their small waste pile, but surprised to learn that on average every person in the SLRD produces close to 1 tonne of recyclable and landfill waste each year. Check out this picture of a one-tonne-a-saurs (below), and imagine a herd of over 54,000 one-tonne-a-saurs - this is how much waste is produce each year in the SLRD. Students agreed that their commitment to waste free lunches needs to also be applied in their schools, homes, and communities.

what 1 tonne of waste looks like

Some really interesting conversations came up when students were asked the question "why do we have so much stuff?" A student in Mr. Lane's class said "because you buy one thing, then something similar but better comes out, and then you have to buy this." Students in Ms. Hardy's class shared similar thoughts giving the example of video game systems that wont play new games, and that feeling of "I just have to have it" drives them to buy more stuff. Students were interested to learn that people who make stuff use this "I just have to have it" feeling to sell more stuff. The term for this marketing strategy is planned obsolescence. The next time they feel that "I just have to have it" feeling, students were encouraged to think about the waste involved in the production, and packaging of stuff, the landfill space that their old stuff will take up, and ask themselves "do I really need it?"

After the Zero Waste Workshop the classes audited their lunch waste and here are the results

It is interesting that there are no paper or plastic lunch bags, I remember when I was in grade four it was customary to bring a new paper lunch bag every day. It is also interesting to note that the number of organics (orange peels, banana peels, apple cores) in Mr. Lane, and Ms. Hardy's class was the biggest number. Think how how much waste could be reduced by composting fruit sticker free organics. Next week all three classes will re-audit their waste on Garbage Free Lunch Day. If they reduce their total pieces of garbage they will be entered to win 1 of 10 classroom worm composters.

So far 86 students across the region have committed to:

getting their snacks from the bulk bins to avoid single use packaging
remembering their re-usable drink containers to avoid juice boxes and straws
taking their stickers off of their organics before composting
and reducing their waste at school, home, and in their communities

I can't wait to hear from Mr. Lane's, Ms. Carson's, and Ms. Hardy's class how their Garbage Free Lunch Day goes! This week the Zero Waste program will visit Ms. Allen's grade 4 class at Spring Creek in Whistler. Ms. Allen's class sorts the recycling for Spring Creek so they should have some good ideas on how their school can reduce their waste.

Welcome to the Zero Waste Education Program Blog

2011-09-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Who is writing this blog?

Hi and thanks for visiting. My name is Kimberley Armour (that is me making a sand duck) and I am the Coordinator of the Zero Waste Education Program. I am an environmental educator based in Squamish, BC. and have been contracted by the Squamish Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) to develop and deliver the Zero Waste Education Program.

What is this blog all about?
This blog will track the zero waste challenge as it tours throughout the region, and share with readers experiences from the zero waste journey. You will find resources on how to reduce your waste, results from the classroom lunch audits, fun/silly/aha moments from workshops, and stories on how students in our region are actively reducing their waste. From September to December 2011 I will be traveling to schools in Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Mt. Currie, D'Arcy, Lillooet and Goldbridge sharing the Zero Waste Challenge. Readers are encouraged to share pictures, stories or tips on how they are committing to acts of zero waste - post right to the blog or email me at slrdzerowaste@gmail.com.

Where did the Zero Waste Education Program come from?

The Squamish Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) Zero Waste Program is an action initiative of the SLRD’s solid waste management plan. This plan seeks to reduce the regions per capita solid waste by 67% as compared to 1990 disposal rates using various waste minimization strategies. All of these waste minimization strategies (including the school program) are built on the concept of zero waste.

What is Zero Waste?

Zero waste, as defined in the SLRD solid waste management plan is:

“a whole systems approach that broadens the scope of solid waste management planning by taking into consideration the flow of products and materials from the initial stages of product and process design, through resource extraction, manufacturing, consumption and disposal.”

Just as nature is a whole system that recycles energy into new life, zero waste is a guiding philosophy that encourages us to:

redesign our systems to reduce our levels of consumption,
reuse existing products,
and recycle what we once considered to be “trash”.

What does the Zero Waste Program look like?

Elementary Students will participate in the Zero Waste Workshop learning about the regions waste management system, and discover what happens to their waste “beyond the bin”. The classroom will participate in a lunch waste audit and students be sent home with an invitation to participate in the Regional Garbage Free Lunch Challenge. Parents will be given tips and ideas of how they can support garbage free lunch day in a send-home invitation. Parents and students will also be encouraged to submit photos, and stories of their garbage free lunch experience to be featured on the zero waste blog site. The garbage free lunch day will take place in the week following the Zero Waste Workshop. Using the same auditing system that was applied in the workshop, students and teachers will re-audit their waste on garbage free lunch day. Classrooms showing a reduction in waste will be entered to win one of 10 classroom worm composters.

The Zero Waste High School Edition is a competition between regional high schools to understand their solid waste composition. Students will conduct a waste audit, and use this understanding to develop a solid waste reduction plan. Zero Waste teams will be asked to submit a short video describing their solid waste reduction plan, and one school will win a $1000 waste action prize to implement their waste reduction plan.