Young learners explore the connection between Waste & Wildlife

Delivery of our first Waste and Wildlife program occurred at Cooee Primary School, on a day better suited to ducks than workshop delivery.

Luckily, the grade three classroom was a safe haven from the sideways rain, and we went on to temporarily trash it, in keeping with our litter theme.

Landcare Tasmania’s Waste and Wildlife program focuses on the impact of waste on local ecosystems and wildlife, and teaches students some simple, hands-on ways they can address this impact.

The start of the program saw the Cooee students meet a real-life lunchbox rubbish monster, who helped them understand how much waste is generated by school students across Tasmania every day.

The students then handled some common household items, and we revealed how long these things take to decompose in the environment when they end up there as waste. 

Shock seemed the most common response.

“A million years?!” chimed two students learning how long a glass bottle takes to break down.

Little penguins threatened by waste pollution

In the main course of the program, we introduced the students to the particular waste problems faced by four Tasmanian animals, including the little penguin, which famously inhabits coastal areas around Cooee. 

This is when we took full advantage of our special guest for the visit, Dr Perviz Marker. Dr Marker is a world-leading little penguin expert who happens to live near Cooee, and we asked her to share stories about little penguins rescued locally after encountering waste, as well as some fun penguin facts.

Exploring solutions

Then we switched into ‘solutions mode’.  The students were challenged to come up with simple solutions to the four Tasmanian animals’ waste-related problems, ones which could be carried out by themselves, or with help from their families or communities.

We aimed to leave the students with a sense of empowerment in tackling the waste problems faced by wildlife, and comments on the exit ‘postcards’ they submitted suggested we hit our target.

“Don’t feed animals bread or cakes or chocolate” and “Don’t use sticky glue traps” were some of the ideas students left the classroom with.

 

Thank you!

Thanks to the staff and students of Cooee Primary School, and to Dr Perviz Marker.

Landcare Tasmania's Waste and 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, and educators interested in having it delivered at their school can contact [email protected]

Learn more here.