No time to waste

We wanted students and staff to be better informed about waste management and waste reduction in general, and in their high schools in particular, so that they could improve practices. We also aim...

We wanted students and staff to be better informed about waste management and waste reduction in general, and in their high schools in particular, so that they could improve practices. We also aimed to create a virtual wall gathering all the project outputs, most of these productions being free to use and reuse by anyone. Another objective was to enhance the digital skills of the participating students through activities to be carried out ahead of each meeting of the partnership. To achieve this, the supervising teachers met to train each other in the tools needed to implement these activities. All the activities were conducted in English, with the goal of enriching the language skills of all the participants. Finally, a meeting gathering students from each high school, held every spring, was intended to strengthen cooperation, foreign language practice, and experience sharing during multinational team activities.

At the beginning of each year, a collaborative training session among teachers, bringing together 1-2 teachers from each high school, allowed peer training for the project activities : using Google Forms (for quizzes and surveys), Teams (for file storage and video meetings), Canva (for presentations and recipe cards), and VN (for video editing). Before the meetings, students participated in a survey to gauge their awareness of waste issues, presented what is or isn’t being done in their high school, attended lessons on the topic, and created a collaborative quiz (with each partner focusing on a sub-theme). They also created written or video tutorials for zero-waste workshops, designed and proposed logos for the project. Two meetings of the partnership took place (in 2023 in St. Pouange and in May 2024 in Luxembourg). In multinational teams, students participated in zero-waste workshops, planted a hedge, discussed carbon offsetting, took part in activities related to food waste (weighing leftovers, creating and cooking a zero-waste dinner), visited local companies related to the topic, and exchanged ideas on waste management in their schools.

A survey addressed to the students of the partner schools helped to identify more precisely the needs in terms of raising awareness about waste management and reduction. The students then assessed the waste management practices in their schools, participated in creating a collaborative quiz (with each school focusing on a sub-theme), learned how to create written and video tutorials, and proposed or implemented improvements for waste management in their schools. The two meetings of the partnership allowed students to present and discuss the work completed beforehand. 66 students and 20 teachers gathered in St. Pouange (France) in April 2023, while 82 students and 11 teachers met in May 2024 in Luxembourg. Their participation in the activities (in multinational teams) is documented in their team logbooks. Teachers met at the beginning of each year to train each other on the tools needed for the year’s activities. Courses, lab protocols, educational games, and resources were shared. All of the work, outputs, and resources are freely available for consultation and download at https://carrefour.netboard.me/notimetowaste.