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Waterloo Region School Board Implements Waste Reduction Strategy

The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) has announced a new initiative aimed at reducing waste within its schools. The plan involves relocating garbage bins from inside classrooms to hallways, a move intended to minimize the amount of waste generated in the education system.

Jeff Pelich, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) in Waterloo Region, disclosed that the WRDSB recently communicated this change in a memo to school administrators. The initiative is framed as an effort to mitigate the board’s environmental impact on landfill sites, enhance operational efficiency, and potentially reduce costs amidst ongoing budgetary constraints.

According to Pelich, the memo outlined an ambitious objective to decrease the number of garbage receptacles and, consequently, the use of garbage bags by approximately 80 percent. “The classrooms will no longer have individual waste bins; instead, larger bins will be strategically placed in central areas of the schools. The decision will be tailored to individual sites based on their specific needs,” he explained.

However, Pelich expressed doubts regarding the effectiveness of such a strategy. He noted that simply moving bins is unlikely to decrease the total volume of waste produced. “At the end of the day, there will still be a significant amount of refuse, as certain items inevitably need to be discarded,” he remarked. He further emphasized that without adequate staffing for composting and enhanced recycling programs, the initiative might not yield the desired outcomes.

Potential Impact on Classroom Dynamics

Pelich also raised concerns about the practical implications of this policy for students. He mentioned that requiring children to leave their classrooms to dispose of waste could detract from valuable learning time and disrupt classroom supervision. “Students will have to step outside their learning environment to throw away something as simple as a used tissue, which is not ideal,” he stated.

The president of the ETFO suggested that if the WRDSB is genuinely committed to reducing waste, the organization should also adopt similar measures at its administrative headquarters. “If reducing classroom waste is truly important, perhaps the board should limit garbage disposal at the Education Centre to just one bin per department to gain insight into the challenges we face,” Pelich proposed.

As of now, Global News has reached out to the WRDSB for a response regarding this initiative but has not yet received any comments.

Source
globalnews.ca