Salisbury Regional

Elementary
School:
Waste Audit
Summary
November 20th, 2013
The Gaia Project
270 Rookwood Ave
Fredericton, NB
E3B 2M2

1 (506) 442-9030
www.thegaiaproject.ca
contact@thegaiaproject.ca
Salisbury Regional Elementary School: Waste Audit Summary
A summary of the results from the waste audit conducted on November 20th, 2013.

Copyright 2013 The Gaia Project. Last updated on November 25th, 2013.
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The Gaia Project
270 Rookwood Ave
Fredericton, NB
E3B 2M2
Canada

1 (506) 442-9030
contact@thegaiaproject.ca

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Overview
The Gaia Project collaborated with Grade 4
students at Salisbury Regional Elementary
School to conduct a waste audit of the schools
dry waste on the afernoon of November 20th,
2013. The process, results, and
recommendatons are detailed herein.
The Process
As part of the waste audit on Wednesday,
November 20th, The Gaia Project and Salisbury
Regional Elementary students briefy discussed
energy, consumpton and the waste hierarchy
reduce, reuse and recycleand why each of
these are important, and how they might relate
to the waste audit that day. We discussed what
kinds of things would typically be found in
classroom garbage cans, and used this
discussion to decide on sortng classes in which
to separate the waste.
Sorting classes
We decided on 4 sortng classes:
Recyclable plastcs & drink containers
Paper
Compost
Garbage
Collecting the Garbage
Students and teachers collected their
classrooms dry waste for either 2 or 3 days
before the day of the audit.
Students were divided into groups based on
their classrooms, and gloves were provided to
all students along with a safety orientaton.
Groups then opened the bags and sorted its
contents.
We subsequently weighed the contents of each
sortng category at the end of each sortng
session. The data from each group was entered
into an excel spreadsheet so that we could
build a picture of how much waste the school
produces in a day from each of the six sortng
classes. The results are detailed below.
Results
You can fnd the actual weight from each
sortng class (raw data) in Table 1 in the

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Appendix. The total percentage of waste by
category is pictured in Graph 1.
Finally, the amount of waste collected and
sorted into each category has been projected
forward to provide an estmate of waste
produced annually. Using the assumpton of
195 school days a year, the annual projected
amount of total dry waste produced by these
grade 4 classrooms is 420 kg.
Summary
Through the process of measuring how much
and what type of dry waste is produced in the
Grade 4 classrooms at Salisbury Regional
Elementary School, was discovered that (Graph
1):
45% of the waste was recyclable plastcs
and drink containers (including drink
containers that can be redeemed for a
refund)
38% was recyclable paper
8% was compost
Only 9% of the waste was actual garbage
that needed to be there.
Students agreed that it was great that only 8%
of the waste in the dry garbage was compost or
wet waste.
If we found ways to divert all of the recyclable/
returnable/compostable materials, grade 4
classrooms at Salisbury Elementary School
could reduce their waste by 380 kg per year,
reducing the total amount of waste produced at
in the grade 4 classrooms dry waste to 40 kg,
or by 91%.
Recyclable Plastics & Drink
Containers
This category represented the largest porton
of the dry waste in grade 4 classrooms. This
category include refundable drink containers,
for which no recycling program currently exists.
One of the parents assistng with the waste
audit suggested that she would be available to
help implement a recycling program for drink
containers to ensure that the refunds would go
back to the school.
Paper and Cardboard
Paper represented 38% of the total dry waste
during the audit period. Students suggested
that a way to reduce this amount might be to
encourage students to reuse their paper, and to
recycle for crafs and other purposes.
Graph 1. Salisbury Elementary Waste AuditNovember
20th, 2013

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Compostable Material
Eight percent (8%) of the dry waste sorted was
compostable material. Decreasing this amount
to zero would increase the recycling efciency
of items once they arrive at the solid waste
commission for sortng.
To ensure that students were placing dry & wet
waste in their appropriate containers, students
suggested frequent reminders of what types of
waste go into each bin.
Garbage
Only 9% of the waste we examined actually
needed to go into the garbage. Reducing the
total amount of garbage by encouraging
students to reduce and reuse could decrease
the waste produce in the dry waste by grade 4
classrooms to 40 kg annually.
One-Bag Challenge
The Gaia Project is examining the possibility of
facilitatng a One-Bag Challenge competton for
elementary schools across the province in
Spring 2014, to coincide with Earth Week. The
goal of this day would be to have the school
produce one bag (or less!) of garbage in the
entre day. The One-Bag Challenge allows the
students and staf to have a strong visual target
to aim for, reinforcing the recycling behaviours.
This could be accomplished by:
Establishing a single day (or week) that is
designated as the challenge day or week.
In the days or weeks preceding the event,
students can provide informaton
sessions / material to their classmates
and their parents about the challenge.
Allow students and staf to present ideas
on how to achieve the one-bag challenge
goal.
Use recyclable containers to hold
your food
Only taking food to school you will
eat
The One-Bag Challenge could be in conjuncton
with a school picnic or other school events.
Please let us know if you would be interested in
partcipatng.







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Contact Us
I would be happy to discuss anything in this
report, and work with Salisbury Regional
Elementary School in implementng any
recommendatons coming out of this audit. I look
forward to working with you further.

Many thanks,



Vanessa Paesani
Executve Director

The Gaia Project
270 Rookwood Ave
Fredericton, NB
E3B 2M2

1 (506) 442-9054
vanessa.paesani@thegaiaproject.ca




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Appendix
Table 2: Summary of totals for audit period, and projectons of waste producton for full year based
on 195 school days per year (estmated annual results)
Table 1: Raw data collected by students showing waste categories, locatons and weights
Group
Recyclable Plastc
& Drink Containers
(kg)
Paper (kg) Compost (kg) Garbage (kg)
Total
(kg)
4 Killam 1.5 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.8
4 Laughlin 0.2 1.0 0.2 0.1 1.5
4 Shannahan 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.6
4 S 1.1 1.1 0.2 0.1 2.4
Total 2.9 2.5 0.5 0.6 6.4
Sortng Category Daily (kg) Annual (kg)
Recyclable Plastc & Drink Containers 2.9 185
Paper & Cardboard 2.5 160
Compost 0.5 35
Garbage 0.6 40
Total 6.4 420