Living in a world whose oceans, fields and mountains are filled with toxic garbage, such as plastics, metals and other poisons, Mother Nature is increasingly more displeased with us humans.
Fortunately, not all humans are wasteful and strive to not only clean up in their wake, but also encourage others to do so as well.
Koji Zolbrod, a teacher of Grade 11 environmental science at Oak Bay High School, thought to instill this mantra in his students; not by telling them about recycling and what garbage is really made of, but showing them.
Called the “garbage audit” Zolbrod tasked his students last week to collect garbage from classrooms throughout the school and place it all on a mat in the foyer; in turn, not only revealing what is going to waste, but how their own peers decipher what is garbage and what isn’t.
“The goal is to show not only our students who are doing this whole campaign, but the school at large… what can and can’t go into the garbage, what should go into recycling,” Zolbrod said, adding this week his class will start with the food compost program, learning about soft plastics, foil and more comprehensive recycling programs.
After collecting garbage from every classroom, the students then sorted and weighed it, a feat done for the first time at Oak Bay High, and something of a milestone towards more recycling awareness.
The result was a total of 30.8 kg (68 pounds) of garbage, broken down between 15 kg (33 pounds) comprised of a combination of recyclable glass, metal, cans, soft plastic, foil lined wrappers and plastic bags, 12.7 kg (28 pounds) of food waste including compostable cups and soiled paper from food, 2.7 kg (six pounds) of clean paper recycling (paper towels, paper, cup slips) and 0.5 kg (one pound) of non-recyclable garbage.
Included in the total was 56 paper cups 41 plastic cups and 26 refundable containers.
“The reason this came about was the administration was looking for composting, and we realized as a class that it’s a bigger issue than just composting. It’s actually a school-wide recycling issue,” Zolbrod said, adding the students are essentially in charge of everything from coming up with the survey, to the social media campaign for the internal part of the school, and figuring out the best way to get the youth to recycle better.
Somewhat shocked and grossed out by their fellow peers’ collective detritus, some of the students took pride in the experience.
“I think it’s a good experience, it’s good to do stuff like this for the school, made me feel good,” said Liam Canthwell, a Grade 11 student. Across from Canthwell, Apple Matthews shared the same sentiment.
“It feels good, and I’m motivated to continue recycling,” she said.
This week, Oak Bay High School will kick off its new recycling program, which Zolbrod’s recent findings helped support.