Worms into schools!
Usti nad Labem, a small town in Czechia, decided to stop recycling biological waste because its citizens were not educated on what to throw into the eco-bins and ended up destroying the waste with plastic and glass polluters (Dlouhý, 2021).
Unfortunately, a vast majority of the town’s citizens already got accustomed to recycling their biological waste and don’t want to give up just because the town hall removed the eco-bins from the streets instead of educating the citizens!
“To be able to directly improve the lives of the local community is a dream come true of every passionate teacher.”
I suggest tackling this real-life problem with my solution from the GIM-based prototyping sprint. Connecting education on sustainability and creating great teaching materials (Weber, 2020) that can directly improve the lives of the local community is a dream come true of every passionate teacher.
Each school can open their vericomposters to the public and spare 1–2 hrs every workday to let the neighbors dispose of their biological waste into the schools’ vericomposters. Children will see the direct impact of their maker solutions and teachers will have a constant source of materials for Biology, Ecology, and Geology classes, gardening, and extracurricular activities. Also, spare compost that won’t be used by school can be a great source of extra income for schools.
Such a solution would not only solve the problem of the community but also empower the local schools which should play a vital role in inspiring and improving its surroundings.
The composting trend already reached many schools (GMFTS, 2010) all around the world.
Are you ready to invite worms to your school too?
If you wanna see a great inspiring story form a school that already invited worms to their curriculum, watch this great video!
Sources
- Dlouhý, H. (2021, January 17). Magistrát rozhodl. Z Ústí zmizely hnědé popelnice na bioodpad. Ústecký deník. https://ustecky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/magistrat-rozhodl-z-usti-zmizely-hnede-popelnice-na-bioodpad-20210117.html
- GMFTS. (2010, October 1). Guide To Staring A School Compost Program. http://greenmountainfarmtoschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Guide-to-Staring-a-School-Compost-Program
- Weber, C. (2020, April 27). Making the Most of Compost. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/making-most-compost