Stage 5 Science Environmental Sustainability - Waste Wise
About this incursion
This program uses a case study of waste management on the Central Coast, hands-on activities, and data analysis to explore the environmental impact of waste. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the breakdown rates of different materials, participate in a playground waste audit, and brainstorm practical waste reduction strategies for their school and community.
Incursion 2 hours per class (note - we can complete 2 lessons per day and visit over a number of days if there are multiple classes. We can also complete a full playground waste audit for more in depth data).
Learning Intention
We are learning to understand the environmental impact of waste and explore practical ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials to support sustainability.
We can:
- Discuss alternatives to current resource use, including strategies to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials.
- Describe current recycling processes and their importance.
- Analyse real waste data to assess opportunities for reducing waste and supporting a circular economy.
Incursion activities
- Present the issue of waste in Australia with a focus on the Central Coast case study.
- Discuss why waste is an environmental and community issue (landfill volume, pollution, resource depletion).
- Introduce the concepts of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (the 3Rs) and why they are integral to sustainability.
- Provide students with a selection of cleaned items commonly found in bins (plastic bottle, paper, banana peel, glass jar, aluminium can, polystyrene, etc.).
- Students work in groups to place these items on a timeline according to their breakdown rates in landfills/recycling (ranging from days to centuries).
- Discuss why some materials take longer to break down and the implications this has on waste management, recycling priorities and the impact of litter on the environment.
- Highlight the importance of keeping materials in the circular economy
- Conduct a real-time waste audit in the school playground.
- Students collect data on the types and quantities of waste generated during recess/lunch.
- Classify waste into compostable, recyclable (return & earn) and landfill categories.
- Discuss findings and analyse which waste streams have potential to be reduced, reused, or recycled better.
Important information
Science 7–10 (2023)
Environmental Sustainability
❀ SC5-ENV-01 analyses the impact of human activity on the natural world
❀ SC5-WS-06 analyses data from investigations to identify trends, patterns and relationships, and draws conclusions
❀ SC5-WS-07 selects suitable problem-solving strategies and evaluates proposed solutions to identified problems
Additional Resources
Upon booking, you will receive our full program resources along with the relevant Risk Assessments.
Program Brochure
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