Learning the 'why' to protect wildlife from waste
There may be no 'y' in WASTE, but understanding WHY waste matters can make all the difference.
Recently, the 'Biggies' (Grade 5/6 students) from the Cottage School in Bellerive explored the connection between everyday waste and Tasmania's unique wildlife through Landcare Tasmania's Waste & Wildlife Education Program.
The program is designed around a simple idea: people are more likely to take action when they understand who is affected. By connecting waste issues to animals that students know and care about, the conversation shifts from bins and rubbish to protecting wildlife.
Landcare Tasmania’s Education Team worked with local experts across the state who are committed to protecting native wildlife from threats, to produce four impact videos featuring Microbats, Wallabies, Little Penguins and Platypus to play to the students during our school incursions to help them come up with solutions to preventing harm to wildlife from waste.
The year 5/6 students were very moved by the impact videos; learning about the impacts of general house waste items on our four chosen Tasmanian wildlife, with many of them learning new facts about these special creatures:
Esther learnt that “wallabies chew sideways and when they have human food like bread they will chew like humans.”
Remy learnt that: “...bread causes lumpy jaw.”
After watching the videos, students broke into groups to come up with their own Big and Little ideas.
The students favourite solution ideas were:
Microbat: Rather than using the insect glue trap, let the microbats eat the insects.
Platypus: Make a machine that turns plastic into energy.
Wallaby: A law against feeding animals, if you do you get a $750 fine.
Little Penguin: Make a community group to go and clean up their burrows and around. Make borders around and make specific places to watch them.
Turning ideas into action
This connection is what inspires action. A student might walk past a piece of litter without a second thought. But if they know that litter could end up in a penguin burrow, entangle a platypus or harm a wallaby, picking it up suddenly has purpose.
The Cottage School's “ruMAD (making a difference)” program offers a way to help students design and implement social action projects that they are passionate about. Some of the ideas that were generated during our solutions idea session will be built on and turned into an actionable project created and led by the students.
It was great to see the students thinking about their own contribution and role as a community in reducing the impact of waste on local wildlife:
“I have learnt that one person can make an amazing difference,” Elsie said.
“The community of helping waste is way bigger than I thought and they care so much,” said Avik.
By helping students understand the wildlife impacts of waste, the Waste & Wildlife Education Program is showing that meaningful environmental action often starts with something small: caring about a local animal and choosing to help protect it.
Landcare Tasmania’s Waste & Wildlife Awareness workshops are supported by the Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board, which is funded by the Tasmanian Government.
