Ipswich City Council

Waste

What a Waste Education Program

The aim of the waste education program is to develop in students:

An awareness of the need for waste minimisation
A clear understanding of essential components of waste minimisation, namely reducing, reusing, recycling and composting
The knowledge, skills attitudes and values needed to minimise waste
A sound knowledge base and the reasoned ability to encourage friends and family to minimise waste
Possible new patterns of behaviour including both personal lifestyle choices and informed social action that reflects these values

The What a Waste! Environmental Education Program is available for students of all ages. More information about the range of lessons available can be found in:

Childcare & Prep Brochure (PDF, 1.1 mb)

Primary School Brochure (PDF, 485 kb) and What A Waste! Brochure (primary) (PDF, 263 kb)

High School Brochure (PDF, 108 kb)

This What a Waste! education program is available to all Ipswich schools and childcare centres free-of-charge.

To arrange for the Environmental Education Officer to visit your school or childcare centre, fill in the online form or contact Ipswich Waste Services.

The Environmental Education Van

Ipswich Waste Services utilises the Environmental Education Van as a fully-contained interactive classroom, providing students with a relevant, stimulating, exciting, hands-on and practical student-oriented learning experience.

Learning is a lifelong process and the environmental education van is designed to cater for a range of age groups. The educational experiences available are relevant for pre-schoolers, primary school students, high school students, teachers and community groups.

The education van includes:

a projector for the showing of PowerPoint presentations.
a TV, video and DVD player.
a series of large, colourful educational information panels.
a working worm farm.
compost bins.
information brochures for school projects, posters and a wide variety of props!
a range of interactive games and activities plus many other educational resources.

The van is designed to be set-up as a fully mobile outdoor classroom and has room to comfortably seat a class of thirty students under a shade canopy. For the projector and television, to work, the van also requires access to a power point.

For presentations to a larger audience, for school assemblies or for groups with special needs, the resources can be easily moved and assembled in an indoor setting.

Additional resources

An education package is sent to all schools that book the Environmental Education Officer with worksheets, activities and introductory information available. There are also follow up activities that can be completed once the education officer has completed the presentation.

The What a Waste! education booklet is also sent out as part of the education package with additional activities and relevant links to the curriculum.

In addition, from July 2004, Ipswich City Council has resolved to provide recycling services to Ipswich schools on a request basis and at no cost to the school that engage Council's waste education program. School recycling programs are a very practical educational tools that encourages students to develop life-long waste minimisation practices and good recycling habits.

Last Updated 26 Oct 2009 |

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