Southern Carleton Elementary - October 2, 2013 Waste Audit Summary

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Southern

Carleton

Elementary

School: Waste

Audit Summary

October 2nd, 2013

The Gaia Project

270 Rookwood Ave

Fredericton, NB

E3B 2M2

1 (506) 442-9030

[email protected]


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Southern Carleton 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

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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 with Grade 3

students at Southern Carleton Elementary

School to conduct a waste audit on October

2nd, 2013. The process, results, and

recommendaons are detailed herein.

The Process

The Gaia Project and Southern Carleton

Elementary students started o the morning

talking about energy, consumpon and thewaste hierarchyreduce, reuse and recycle

and 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 September 30th and October

1st, 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 individually:

Kindergarten

Grade 1/2

Grade 3

Grade 4/5

Sta / Oce

Outside

Cafeteria

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 the

bags 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.

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 the various

categories can be seen in the charts labelled

Graphs 1 & 2, which represent waste including

and excluding recycling.

Charts summarizing the waste audit by grade


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and locaon, along with paper recycling and

drink containers recycling are included in full

size in the appendix chart 2.

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

9,220kg. The breakdown of waste can be found

in Table 2 in the Appendix. These are very

rough esmate of the total waste the school

produces each year.

Summary

Through the process of measuring how much

and what type of waste is produced at Southern

Carleton School it was discovered that (Graph1):

44% of the waste was compostable

material.

38% of the waste could have been

recycled. This includes:

Paper and cardboard (14%)

Recyclable plascs (10%)

Metals (4%)

Returnable drink containers

(including milk containers)(10%).

Only 18% of the waste was actual

garbage that needed to be there.

When including recycling in the waste audit, it

was discovered that (Graph 2):

16% of the total waste was being

recycled. This includes: Paper and cardboard (13%)

Recycled drink containers (3%)

It is esmated that each year Southern Carleton

diverts 1,500kg of waste, or 16% of the total

waste out of the regular garbage, through its

recycling programs for paper, cardboard and

drink containers. Southern Carleton should be

congratulated on a job well done.

If we found ways to divert all of the recyclable/

returnable/compostable materials, Southern

Carleton School could reduce their waste by an

addional 6,300kg. This would reduce the total

amount of waste produced at the school to less

than 1,400kg, or by 85%.


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WasteAuditSummary

Paper and CardboardPaper and cardboard recycling is already in

place at the school. 52% of the paper and

cardboard collected during the sample period

was diverted for recycling, with the remaining

48% nding its way into the waste stream. Thepercent of paper waste and recycled paper can

be seen in Graph 3.

The overwhelming majority of the paper found

in the waste stream was from the sta and

oce areas of the school. These areas

accounted for almost 2/3 of the paper and

cardboard that was not recycled. If the staroom improved their recycling, they could

remove an esmated 680kg of paper every

school year or 12% of the schools waste.

As highlighted in the graphs in the Appendix, it

was observed that the amount of paper in the

garbage bins decreased from 20% in

Kindergarten to 3% in Grade 4/5. This suggests

that as students become more familiarized

with the paper recycling program, the amount

of paper entering the waste stream decrease.

It was also noted that the amount of paper in

the waste decreases with the increasing grade

level.

Returnable Drink ContainersCurrently, only 27% of drink containers are

being collected 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 maybe lower than expected. This

category does remain a signicant opportunity

for improvement as an esmated 800kg of

waste could be diverted from landll.

Compostable MaterialForty-four percent (44%) of the waste sorted

was compostable material, comprising thelargest category of waste produced at the

school (Graph 1). A large poron of this

compostable material was food waste

produced in the school, by students and sta.

The cafeteria represented the single largest

source of compost within the school, although

the Grade 1-5 classrooms also represented a

signicant poron

Recyclable PlasticsTen percent (10%) of the waste examined was

recyclable plasc. No facilies for recycling this

material currently exist at the school.

The majority of this recyclable plasc came

from the cafeteria and sta / oce areas of the


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school- addressing just these two areas would

target over 50% of the recyclable plascs in the

school.

Metals

Only 4% of the waste was metal, such as food

cans with the majority coming from the

Cafeteria, and the Grade 1/2 classrooms.

Classroom-based metals are most likely a rare

event represenng a single large item.

Garbage

Only 18% of the waste we examined actually

needed to go into the garbage. The area of the

school with the largest percentage of waste wasthe outside garbage cans, in which a signicant

number of food wrappers could be found (40%

of weight).

Action Plan

Students worked in groups to come up with a

number of ideas to implement at SouthernCarleton Elementary School. A summary of

these are listed below, along with the

challenges and strategy for proceeding.

CompostingSince compost represented 44% of the waste

collected, this an obvious priority area.

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

maintain it.

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 thestarooms could involve 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: ImprovingRecycling ContainersWhile it may not be praccal at this me to

implement paper recycling, with the school

closing at the end of this year, eort should be

taken to decrease the 14% of recyclable paper

found in the garbage. It was noted that paper

recycling containers are not the same in every

classrooms (these can be as simple as a

cardboard box). Several students suggested the

idea of decorang the recycling containers in

order to draw more aenon to them, with the

goal of seeing increased usage.

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

certain classrooms. Improving the rao of

recycling containers to garbagecanscould help.

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


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WasteAuditSummary

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 sorng

container.

Recycling bins for plasc would representremoval of 10% or 740kg esmated annually,

while this represents a signicant poron of

waste. Due to the cost to run these types of

programs it maybe something to invesgate

once the new school is open.

Assemblies / AnnouncementsStudents proposed that it would be worthwhile

to share the results of this audit with the rest ofthe school. An eecve way to do this would be

during the schools weekly assemblies 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 containers to hold your

food

Only taking food to school you will

eat

The One Bag Challenge could be held in

conjuncon with a school picnic or other school

events.

Summary

Since Southern Carleton 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 thebiggest impact in a short me period.

The Gaia Project is excited to collaborate and

assist South Carleton Elementary School in

achieving these goals.

Contact Us

If you would like more informaon, we wouldbe 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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Appendix

Group

Returnable

Drink

Containers

(kg)

Metals

(kg)

Recyclable

Plascs(kg)

Paper&

Cardboard

(kg)

Co

mpostable

(kg)

Garbage

(kg)

Total

(kg)

Kindergarten

0.8

0.0

0.9

1.3

2.8

0.6

6.4

Grade1-2

2.5

1.3

0.5

0.5

6.8

1.4

13.1

Grade3

0.5

0.0

0.9

0.5

5.6

2.2

9.8

Grade4-5

0.7

0.2

0.5

0.3

6.5

3.0

11.2

Sta/Oce

0.1

0.1

2.3

7.0

1.7

3.1

14.4

Outside

0.3

0.0

0.6

0.1

2.9

2.6

6.4

Cafeteria

3.4

1.1

1.9

1.4

8.4

1.1

17.2

Total(ExcludingRecycling)

8.3

2.9

7.6

11.1

34.8

14.0

78.6

Recycling

3.1

11.8

14.9

Total(IncludingRecyclin

g)

11.4

2.9

7.6

22.9

34.8

14.0

93.5

SorngClas

s

TwoDayTotal(kg)

Annual(kg

)

ReturnableDrinkContainers

8.3

800

Metals

2.9

280

RecyclablePlascs

7.6

740

Paper&Cardboard

11.1

1100

Compostable

34.8

3400

Garbage

14.0

1400

RecycledDrinkContainers

3.1

300

RecycledPape

r

11.8

1200

Total

93.5

9220

Table2:Summaryoftot

alsfortwodayperiod,andprojeconsforfull

yearbasedon195schooldaysperyear(esmatedannu

alresults)

Table1:Rawdatacollectedbystudentsshowingwastec

ategories,locaonsandweight

s


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Southern Carleton Elementary - October 2, 2013 Waste Audit Summary

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