Everyone at Earl Beatty has been working hard to be environmentally responsible; we are, after all, a Gold-certified EcoSchool. But we know that we can be doing more for our community and for our environment so Earl Beatty has set its sights on becoming a Platinum EcoSchool.
Moving up to Platinum status involves carrying out audits of Earl Beatty's waste. This year, Mieke Foster, Waste Management Specialist at the Toronto District School Board, came out to help our Eco Green Team conduct our first one in January. Mieke made sure we had all the materials required to sort and measure our waste, including garbage and recyclables. The Eco Green Team, armed with gloves, bins, and scales, were charged with the task of sorting all of Earl Beatty's waste into 7 different categories, which included Recyclable Containers, Recyclable Paper, Other Recyclables, Food Waste and Soiled Paper, Untouched Food (?!), Real Garbage and Reusables.
The results of January's audit were very interesting. The team found that the Earl Beatty community was throwing out 26 kg of material into the garbage bin and of that 26 kg only 9.2 kg of it was actual real garbage! These findings tell us that much of the material we throw out can be recycled, composted, or reused!
The next audit is happening next week. Hopefully, with the introduction of the litter free lunch program, the Good On One Side (GOOS) paper bins in each classroom, and the Eco Green Team's recycling awareness campaigns, the amount of material going into garbage bins has been diverted to recycling bins or being reused (like, pencils, pens, erasers and paper that hasn't been written on both sides) and that the amount of real garbage that Earl Beatty generates has declined.
A big kudos goes out to the staff and students that conducted the waste audit. Researching what goes into our garbage and recycling bins is important work that helps us out figure out what our next steps are to a greener, healthier school!
The Eco Green Team, Mieke Foster and Ms. Laporte ready to sort garbage!
A giant pressure gauge found in the garbage...you never know what you're going to find!
The sorting bins
And their respective bags.
Moving up to Platinum status involves carrying out audits of Earl Beatty's waste. This year, Mieke Foster, Waste Management Specialist at the Toronto District School Board, came out to help our Eco Green Team conduct our first one in January. Mieke made sure we had all the materials required to sort and measure our waste, including garbage and recyclables. The Eco Green Team, armed with gloves, bins, and scales, were charged with the task of sorting all of Earl Beatty's waste into 7 different categories, which included Recyclable Containers, Recyclable Paper, Other Recyclables, Food Waste and Soiled Paper, Untouched Food (?!), Real Garbage and Reusables.
The results of January's audit were very interesting. The team found that the Earl Beatty community was throwing out 26 kg of material into the garbage bin and of that 26 kg only 9.2 kg of it was actual real garbage! These findings tell us that much of the material we throw out can be recycled, composted, or reused!
The next audit is happening next week. Hopefully, with the introduction of the litter free lunch program, the Good On One Side (GOOS) paper bins in each classroom, and the Eco Green Team's recycling awareness campaigns, the amount of material going into garbage bins has been diverted to recycling bins or being reused (like, pencils, pens, erasers and paper that hasn't been written on both sides) and that the amount of real garbage that Earl Beatty generates has declined.
A big kudos goes out to the staff and students that conducted the waste audit. Researching what goes into our garbage and recycling bins is important work that helps us out figure out what our next steps are to a greener, healthier school!
The Eco Green Team, Mieke Foster and Ms. Laporte ready to sort garbage!
A giant pressure gauge found in the garbage...you never know what you're going to find!
The sorting bins
And their respective bags.
Mieke Foster helping the team sort.
Garbage pile!
It's a dirty job...
but somebody's gotta do it!
A full, untouched lunch found in the garbage.
Pencils and pens that can be reused.
1.3 kg of unopened food
Food waste and soiled paper weighed in at 16.2 kg.
o.8 kg of recyclable containers (including many water bottles and yogurt containers)
1.1 kg of reusable things
9.2 kg of real garbage (landfull = things that cannot be recycled, reused or composted)
