With the waste management challenges becoming more daunting, teaching children about waste management and recycling is crucial as it will go a long way to ensure a sustainable future.
The importance of establishing environmental consciousness and commitment in young people cannot be overemphasised as this means we can allow children to become active agents in preserving the planet.
Of course, children’s education is not confined to school classrooms. The home is where children spend most of their time under the supervision of their parents. So environmental protection education must be based on strategies that involve all family members.
The setting up of the Ecohive Academy, an interactive educational centre at the Marsascala Family Park, is a good initiative taken by Wasteserv to educate children and families on correct waste management, sustainable practices and the role of waste management in building a circular economy. This initiative must now be followed up with other tactics to involve more families in waste management education and encourage hands-on learning and problem-solving skills.
There is no shortage of examples of best practices from many countries on defining and implementing sustainable waste management strategies for youngsters and their families.
Before learning the hands-on activities, students must be equipped with the concept of waste management and the reason for its importance. Nebulous ideas on waste management must be clarified, and educators must be trained and motivated to explain what waste is and how it affects the environment.
The school education process must be based on language and images tailored for different ages to explain issues like recycling, composting, landfill disposal and avoidance of waste. Children must be encouraged to participate in classroom discussions on waste management through questioning and role-playing to enable them to understand the relationship between responsible waste management and their lives.
Heads of school and teaching staff need to ask themselves whether the curricula are too biased in favour of academic learning to the detriment of relevant civic education. We must educate children about the outcome of waste on the environment to make them responsible partners in the world’s sustainable development by acting as caretakers of the environment.
Once the concept of waste management is addressed in the classroom, it will be time to delve deeper into it through interactive discussions and educational materials. Some schools are already using books, videos and online resources to present the different kinds of waste and disposal methods. This initiative will help children by laying the groundwork for the knowledge they gather and allowing them to be involved in practical activities on waste.
The Ecohive Academy will be a suitable venue for the next stage of waste management for young people and their families. School managers should organise class trips to visit a recycling centre to show the children how recycling works. These field trips can be combined with visits to the Ecohive Academy, which can offer visitors interactive educational experiences.
Once children are involved in caring for the environment, they can be encouraged to do practical projects to empower them to be active agents on waste management in their homes. Children can be asked to perform a waste management audit at home to help them understand their families’ waste habits. Teachers should encourage students to discuss the results of their projects with their peers in the classroom and find ways to decrease waste in the future.
Educating children about waste management and recycling must never be tedious or boring.