The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) has recently announced a stop to implementation of a strategy to shift garbage bins from classrooms to the hallways. The main aim of this strategy was to cut down the waste generated in schools and reduce their pressure to the waste disposal facilities existing in the land fill sites.
According to Jeff Pelich, who is the president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) in the Region of Waterloo, this board had indeed issued such a memo last week. The memorandum stated that the focus was to reduce a number of the classroom waste bins, and make operations more effective. However, a few days after the announcement, and after the courtesy of school administrators and staff, the school board shelved the decision.
Additional communication from the board reassured that the project will not be implemented in a hurry, but more consultations will be conducted first. In the memo, it was described further that the decision to suspend the course of action was influenced by feedback and other issues raised by several stakeholders in the education sector.
Pelich attacked the ambitious purpose of the strategy by asserting that simply moving the garbage bins would solve the waste management problem to no avail. He articulated that it would be impractical to expect a decrease in the amount of trash produced because no matter where the trash bins are located, there will always be trash that needs to be thrown away. “Unless they’re prepared to staff through things like composting and more recycling, I just don’t see how this is going to make any difference,” Pelich said.
Additionally, Pelich commented on the challenges posed by students being required to come out of class just to throw trash away. Mm that he indicated to mean bringing that kind of change may affect learning time and also diminish supervision of students. “As we know, that would be time away from learning, away from the supervision of their teacher, which is also an issue for us,” he said.
The WRDSB has not answered questions about why the removal plan for garbage bins has been put on hold. As the board considers the input and maps out possible actions, the issue of effective management of waste in schools remains a burning issue among teachers, learners, and guardians.
