Scripted and acted out by students, each day a dramatic new ‘episode’ is aired on the daily announcements. The main characters are two people who are attracted to each other, but lament about each other’s lifestyle choices (e.g., I found out my boyfriend/girlfriend won’t turn off the lights…I have to break up with them!) This is a soap opera where the characters explore actions that affect the environment. Very engaging for high school level students!

Many schools are taking on the challenge of using a small garbage container in their classrooms to help remind students to consider reducing waste.

This high level example works well with classrooms that have already established strong waste reduction routines. There are a few ways to source mini-garbage cans: collect large margarine containers (a great model of a reuse strategy!), check with your local dollar store or, for larger quantities suitable for board-wide purchases contact Midpoint.

A great way to keep recycling fun is to play a ‘theme’ song over the PA system when classrooms are asked to collect their recycling.

Fun music suggestions include: theme song from Jaws, Jack Johnson’s 3 is a Magic Number song from the Curious George soundtrack, student write/ perform a rap/song. Another time to play music is when a lights off reminder is needed. Try Nelly Furtado’s Turn out the Lights.

GOOS (Good On One Side) paper is an excellent strategy for reducing paper waste in a school. All that is needed is for a school to collect paper that has been printed on one side and use the blank side for rough work, drafts, notepads, scrap paper, notes in class and even activities.

At one school, the office uses GOOS paper wherever possible, including for late slips! If they run out, they make a PA announcement requesting more GOOS paper. When administrators demonstrate that they are using GOOS paper it sends a strong waste minimization message!

Another great idea for waste-free late “slips”: use tokens that are collected and sent back to the office for reuse.

This year at OFSAA, the school hosting the volleyball tournament took concerted measures to reduce waste and spread the message that they were participating in EcoSchools. Here’s what they wrote in their advertisement for the tournament:

"On November 21 and 22 Regi will be hosting the OFFSAA volleyball tournament. Last year Regi was certified as an Ontario Eco-School and is aiming to maintain or better this status this year. One of the major parts to this certification is waste minimization. During the tournament there will be volunteers running a recycling program in an effort to promote a green shift for the school. It would be greatly appreciated if you contributed to this effort by using the appropriate bins and creating as little waste as possible. Here at Regi there are two kinds of recycling bins. The Blue boxes are used for tetra packs, Styrofoam, plastic, aluminum cans and glass while the green bins are for papers and cardboard materials."

Check out the listing on OFFSAA's website.

School ground greening projects often need outside support to actually get them in the ground. As part of the Ontario EcoSchools workshop series, teachers were asked to share some of the funding support that they have received in order to make greening projects possible in their school grounds. 

Here are some of the sources they shared:

1. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation
2. Evergreen Learning Grounds
3. MNR-Stewardship
4. Horticultural clubs (check local listings)
5. Rotary clubs (funding availability/criteria varies locally)