Craig Bolton is encouraging his students to take a creative approach to end littering at Smithers Secondary School. The Grade 8/9 teacher has adapted the Applied Design, Skills and Technologies (ADST) program to encourage students to practice proper waste management strategies.
“There was a lot of littering around the school campus,” explained Bolton.
“The parking lot would be full of fast food waste. Kids walk over to 7-Eleven, Dairy Queen, A&W, Tim’s and then there would be a trail of plastic, even single-use plastics, left behind.”
ADST is a program that teaches kids “hands-on” skills such as robotics, computer programming, woodworking, and textile design. After noticing the amount of litter students were leaving behind, Bolton developed a 3-4 week unit that asked students to make garbage cans and design anti-littering signs.
“It was great because the kids learned some woodworking skills. They used hand-saws and drills and learned how to measure, attach, glue, drill and nail,” explained Bolton.
The students also made an anti-littering installment, where they placed litter on a corkboard and wheeled it around to the other classrooms.
“We’ve been going on class walks and we just grab a garbage bag and try to clean up if we see anything. So some days it feels like we’re getting nowhere” said Bolton.
“Last weekend there was a large pile of garbage on the ground, in front of their garbage can.
“So I don’t know if we’re getting any closer, but the kids seem pretty invested.”
Bolton said proper waste management is especially important in a town like Smithers. Improper waste disposal can attract unwanted animal activity on school property.
“We haven’t had any bear activity with these yet,” explained Bolton. “The students really bought into the wildlife aspect … I explained to them how plastic breaks down, then ends up in the creeks and streams, which affects marine life. ”
Moving forward, Bolton would like to expand this program to address recycling concerns “with a focus on sorting, so that bottles and cans can be returned and reused.”
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