Study Guide written & edited by Megan Dredge. Additional writing by Max Schintler. Design by Shane Dunne.

Study Guide Episode 1

22

SynopsisIn this episode, we meet our five Waste Warriors – Sinon, Jenny, Jayden, Max and Freida - and learn about the environmental challenges that their schools in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania face. Project Planet Champion, Lawrence Gunatilaka tells the Waste Warriors and their sidekicks that they will take part in an 8 week mission to transform their school into an eco-friendly environment. As well as their major mission they will also encounter weekly challenges to enhance their understanding of sustainability. Throughout this episode, we go between the three schools and watch the Waste Warriors as they undertake their missions. At Fremantle College in the Western Australia, Sinon and his team will tackle food waste, at Berry Springs Primary in the Northern Territory, Jenny, Jayden and Max are tasked with reducing water waste and using renewable energy and at Taroona High School in Tasmania Freida and her team must stop waste in all it’s forms using the 5 R’s – refuse, reduce, reuse, renew and recycle.

Challenge Theme: LandfillThe challenge in this episode focuses on landfill. Australia is one of the most wasteful countries in the developed world. Every day, Australia uses over 10 million plastic bags, which are causing a huge problem in our oceans. Every year, the average Australian family throws out $1036 worth of food – that’s about a tonne! Or to put it another way, one in every five shopping bags of food bought is thrown away!!

Australia depends strongly on landfill as a form of managing waste. Landfills impacts the quality of our air, water and land. Landfill waste produces leachate water that can contaminate the air and land in the surrounding area.

E-waste is an increasing problem. Australians are one of the highest users of technology and e-waste is one of the quickest growing kinds of waste. Not only is it highly toxic, in Australia only 4% of e-waste is recycled. This is a statistic that needs to change.

Relevant Links & ResourcesSyrian Mural from Recycled Materials receives Guinness World Record. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/syria-mural-guinness-world-record_n_5063176.html

Recycle Your Mobile Phone https://www.mobilemuster.com.au/

Recycle Your Old Printer Cartridges https://cartridges.planetark.org/

Recycle Your Old Batteries https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/batteries

Helpful Recycling Fact Sheets from Planet Ark https://recyclingweek.planetark.org/recycling-info/downloads.cfm

Even Recycle Your Old Toothbrushes and Pens and Coffee Pods! Set up a program and get going! https://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/5467698/lapstone-public-in-the-running-for-recycled-community-garden/?cs=1432

https://www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU

33

one - AskQuestions to ask your students before, during and after viewing the episode. Choose the questions that are most relevant to your class.

Before• What do you think ‘sustainability’ means?• What does it mean to ‘act responsibly’ with the resources we have?• What do you think ‘landfill’ is?• What are some common things you might find in landfill?• Have you ever heard of e-waste? What might it be?• What is recycling?• How does your family recycle? What do we do in our school to recycle?

During• What did Jayden mean when he said that being a Waste Warrior was like being a superhero?• When Fremantle Waste Warrior Sinon and his team were given the mission to “break the food-waste chain”, what does that actually mean?• Lawrence, Project Planet’s Champion, said that 20% of food that we buy ends up in the bin. Have you ever heard this statistic before? What do you think about this statistic? What emotion do you have when you hear this?

After• Why is sustainability important?• What are some things that end up in landfill that really shouldn’t be there?• Have you thought about the food-waste chain in your school? Describe.• What kind of things could you do to reduce your landfill at home?

“20% of food that we buy ends up in a bin.” Lawrence, Project Planet Champion

44

THREE - ApplySuggested activities and discussion starters to do with your class. These can be individual, with a partner, in a small group, and also to the whole class.

Self• Write down the 5 R’s – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Renew and Recycle - and give an example of what you would do to achieve each ‘R’.

Partner• Freida said, “Out of sight, out of mind.” She then said, “We need to make them see it (waste) first-hand.” Brainstorm 5 different ways you could help your school ‘see’ the waste it creates.

Group• Think about the food-waste chain in your school. What could you do to break this cycle and be more sustainable?

Class• “Small actions spark big changes.”• What does this mean for us as a class?

TWO - AcquireImportant vocabulary phrases and important facts to look for and to learn in this episode.

Vocabulary:• sustainability• clean energy• water-wise• landfill• e-waste• recycle• sustainable food

Important Facts:• How many tonnes of Australia’s waste goes into landfill each year? 20 million tonnes. • What is landfill mostly comprised of? Food waste.• How many tonnes of edible food does Australia throw out each year? 3.1 million tonnes.• What gas is produced by landfill? Methane gas.• How much worse is methane gas for climate change? 20 times worse.• How much of our e-waste gets recycled? 4%.

55

Four - ActivateHelping your students devise ways of actively implementing what they have learned.

Activate #1Freida said, “We don’t need more bins. We need more people to care.”

How can you implement what Freida is compelling us to do. What would this look like for you, your family, your school, and your community?

Me: What can I do?

Us: What can my family do?

My School: What can we do?

My Community: What can we all do?

Activate #2 – Purple Box Challenge – One Glass Jar

Challenge:To fit one week’s worth of rubbish (genuine landfill) into one glass jar.

• How will you accomplish this challenge?• How will you measure your results?• What ways can you reduce the waste you’re producing?• How to start? Here’s how the Waste Warriors started:

1. Freida’s group at Taroona High School emptied out their bags and looked at how much rubbish they had right there in their bags. They then tried to fit it into one glass jar. At the end of the week, they checked to see what was actually landfill and would then go into their Landfill Jar.2. At Berry Springs Primary School, the Waste Warriors measured how much landfill their school creates in a day by sorting the school’s waste into various groupings. They were then able to track their progress over the course of the week.3. Sinon and his Waste Warriors at Fremantle college weighed their waste at the beginning of the week and then compared their results at the end of the week.

66

Activate #3 – Tips & Hacks to START TODAYWhat tips and hacks did Sinon give us to help us get started TODAY? List as many as you can.

His tips and hacks were:

• Grow your own food.• Set up your own compost.• Install a worm farm.• dispose of e-waste through approved recycling programs.• plan ahead for shopping and buy only what you need.• say no to plastic in all its forms.• buy nude food.• refuse a receipt.• do some recycling, including special recycling such as coffee capsules, soft plastic, pens and even toothbrushes!

“It feels cool being a Waste

Warrior. It’s like being

a superhero!” Jayden, Waste Warrior,

Berry Springs Primary School

77

Five - AlignConsolidating and extending student learning by aligning with other Key Learning Areas in the curriculum.

English: Narrative WritingJayden said, “It actually feels pretty cool being a Waste Warrior. It’s like being a superhero.” Write a narrative entitled “A Day In The Life Of A Waste Warrior Superhero.” What does your superhero do? How do they help the planet? What exciting strategies do they implement that exemplifies sustainability? What special powers does your Waste Warrior superhero have?

Maths: Food Waste PercentagesLawrence, Project Planet’s host, said that 20% of food that we buy ends up in the bin. This is a big number, and, this is a lot of waste. Based on this statistic, calculate how much food your family/school wastes each week. Think of a way to present this visually. E.g. graph, poster, drawing, chart.

Art: Create A Mural or Artwork from Recycled MaterialsIn this episode, Freida and her team of Waste Warriors create a mural from ‘landfill’ rubbish to raise awareness of the need for every person to contribute to sustainability.

Create your own mural or artwork from recycled materials. Display it in a place that will help others to see how they can play a part in changing the world, one school at a time.

For inspiration check out this story - a Syrian Mural outside a primary school in the centre of the country’s capital has received a Guinness World Record for being the largest mural made of recycled materials.

Link: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/syria-mural-guinness-world-record_n_5063176.html

“We don’t need more bins. We need more people to care.”

Freida, Waste Warrior, Taroona High School

88

Vocab FunWrite a definition for each of these vocabulary phrases.

sustainability:

clean energy:

water-wise:

landfill:

e-waste:

recycle:

sustainable food:

Worksheet

Fun Facts – How many can you answer? Use a line to join the question with the correct answer.

How many tonnes of Australia’s waste goes into landfill each year? 20 times worse

What is landfill mostly comprised of? 20 million tonnes

How many tonnes of edible food does Australia throw out each year? Methane Gas

What gas is produced by landfill? Food Waste

How much worse is methane gas for climate change? 4%

How much of our e-waste gets recycled? 3.1 million tonnes

The 5 R’sWrite down the 5 R’s and give an example of how you could do each one.

99

Say What?Below are two quotes from Episode 1. How can you turn these words into real actions? What can you do today, this week, this month to act on these words and make a difference?

1. “We don’t need more bins. We need more people to care.” – Freida

2. “Small actions spark big changes.” - Lawrence, Project Planet Champion

Worksheet