Background

Everyday human activities produce waste in a number of forms. Waste in the form of litter pollutes the land and waterways, while waste disposed as rubbish ends up in landfill which can contaminate groundwater, not to mention the need to find new holes as existing ones quickly fill. The “Three Rs”, namely Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, represent ways of minimising the amount of waste that ends up in landfill.

Warning: Students will be handling compost in this program. Whilst students will be wearing gloves and all care is taken, students may come across egg shells, nuts and other food waste products. If students have a known allergy to any food items, please ensure that you advise the Ecolinc Education Officer taking this session.

Key Learning Question

What techniques can we use to minimise waste entering the environment?

Learning Intentions

In this activity, students will:

• Understand the importance of preventing waste from entering the environment
• Learn various strategies for minimising waste that goes to landfill
• Understand how invertebrates that inhabit a compost bin, turn waste food scraps into compost which can be used in the garden.

Activities

Students will:

• Undertake a rubbish sorting activity, to show how recycling and reusing minimises the waste that is sent to landfill
• Participate in an interactive story that demonstrates the impacts of litter and pollution on the environment
• Search for and identify the invertebrates in a sample of compost
• Learn what scraps can be put into a worm farm

Victorian Curriculum

• Objects are made of materials that have observable properties (VCSSU044)
• Everyday materials can be physically changed or combined with other materials in a variety of ways for particular purposes (VCSSU045)
• Earth’s resources are used in a variety of ways (VCSSU047)

Learning Continuum

The following Learning Continuum is a guide for teachers to show the links between the programs. Ecolinc offers onsite, online and through outreach. The Learning Continuum can be used to access Ecolinc resources to support the development of units of work.

Outreach programs are conducted by an Ecolinc education officer at your school. They are available to moderately disadvantaged primary schools in the Geelong, Ballarat and western suburbs areas (or within 100km radius from Bacchus Marsh)