Talking Waste & Wildlife in the platypus capital of the world
Students at Andrews Creek Primary School brought their curiosity, care for the natural environment and creative thinking to the Waste & Wildlife workshop presented by Landcare Tasmania. Living in Latrobe municipality, the Platypus Capital of the World, they also arrived with some impressive platypus expertise!
Connecting with wildlife
For students in the two classes attending the workshop, understanding the waste and wildlife problem meant first stopping to appreciate the animals in their own neighbourhood. The children were quick to mention those species they often meet in their daily travels - like wallabies, blue tongue lizards and cockatoos - and share some anecdotes about encounters with rarer animals like the Tasmanian Devil.
What was truly special was having two baby native mammals attend the workshop as well - these were young wallabies in the care of teacher Erin Woodcock, and they acted as real, and adorable, reminders of what is at stake in our discussions on waste and wildlife.
Becoming more aware of waste
Learning about how the animals in their patch are affected by human-generated waste was next on the agenda, and we talked about what types of waste present the biggest problems, and how long those waste items can linger in the environment when they escape proper rubbish disposal streams.
The children were particularly interested to hear about the issues faced by the river-dwelling animal their patch is famous for, the platypus, and the information we presented about microbats seemed to strike a chord too.
Inspiring solutions
Channeling their feelings about the waste and wildlife problem into positive idea-generation was something the students excelled at. They suggested a huge range of ways to help animals threatened by rubbish, from wrapping up sticky tape in paper before throwing it out, to starting a business based on cleaning up platypus habitat.
Students share their thoughts
‘Every scrap and piece of rubbish counts, so don’t litter’ – Emilia.
‘It is not good to feed animals like wallabies bread, and Halloween cobwebs are dangerous for microbats’ – Ivahna.
‘We can stop littering and make things from rubbish’ – Everlee.
Student pledges to help wildlife
‘Pick up rubbish from animal habitat’ – Isla.
‘Stop using cobwebs for decoration and don’t feed wallabies bread’ – Ivahna.
‘Be a wildlife carer’ – Sahara.
‘Use items like bees wax or material wraps instead of plastic cling wrap’ – Maci.
‘Don’t litter and be caring around animals’ – Jack.
Thank you
Thank you to the teachers and students of Andrews Creek Primary School for your caring attitude and enthusiastic approach to waste-related problem solving.
Landcare Tasmania's Waste & Wildlife Program is supported by the Tasmanian Government and the Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board.
The program includes a teacher package with pre and post lessons linked to the V9 Australian Curriculum.
Educators interested in bringing this program to their school can contact [email protected]
