SwitchOn! issue 1.3 | Page 55

TRASH ON YOUR BACK OVERVIEW:
REDUCING OUR PERSONAL WASTE
Carey Donvale Year 4 students were transformed into
‘Trash Warriors’ in an effort to reflect upon and reduce
their personal waste. From the 11-15th June 2014, students
took part in Sustainability News & Entertainment USA®
(SNAE) ‘TRASH ON YOUR BACK 5 DAY CHALLENGE’©
Australian chapter, in partnership with the School Broadcasting Network (SBN).
The students became ‘Trash Warriors’, collecting all of their
non-perishable waste over the 5 day program. The program
aims to heighten awareness of students’ personal trash impact on the planet. This is in response to Australia being
one of world’s largest producers of waste per year, producing up to 5kg per person daily.
The students were each given a BioPak compostable bag
to put their waste in and the students carried these bags
with them throughout the five days, even when attending
after school soccer matches and gymnastics lessons. Part
of participating in this research project was to investigate
and become aware of the types of waste students produce
as well as educating others about how they can reduce their
personal amount of rubbish going to landfill.
The students completed a range of mathematical tasks in
relation to their waste and compiled their investigations as a
Mathematics Talent Quest class entry. The students sorted,
classified, weighed, measured, graphed and calculated the
cost of their waste.
They also explored ‘food miles’ and calculated the distances their food had traveled as well as the potential energy
used in transporting their food. Through this project, students have become more aware of the need to make good
choices when purchasing products to reduce the amount of
packaging, and therefore the amount of landfill waste they
produce.
Kathryn Mann – Middle School Co-ordinator

Some reflections from the students:
Through Trash On Your Back I learnt how much trash I use and
we combined our individual amounts to see how much all of the
Year 4s produce. I also learnt how it is affecting the
environment. Out of my waste I had more waste that had to go
to landfill which I didn’t want, so now I mostly don’t eat stuff with
plastic on it because I realised how much I used.
Catia 4M
Trash On Your Back was hard because at home you had to
constantly carry around a big 80 litre biodegradable bag full of
recyclables and landfill. You weren’t allowed any food that can
break down because it would make the bag smell. From my
experience I thought it was hard but fun in some ways.
Jackson 4F
We had the pleasure of doing Trash On Your Back. We did
Trash On Your Back for five days. I leant that squishy plastic
goes into landfill and hard plastic is recyclable. I would to it
again and I would recommend it to any of my friends.
Carla 4F
I loved doing Trash On Your Back. I thought my experience of
seeing how much trash I had will make me think twice next time
when I buy something at the supermarket. My favourite part
was sorting the r V&&