Resources
For Site Administrators
K-8 Lunchtime Monitoring Program
Guide to BUSD Waste Management System (Roles and Responsibilities)
For Teachers
- Quick Lesson plan (5 minute sorting + discussion questions)
- Stopwaste’s “Doing the 4Rs” classroom activity guide, with 24 standard-based lessons and five thematic units developed for educators teaching fourth and fifth grades.
For Parents and Green Teams
- Zero Waste Lunch: Guide on how to pack a zero-waste lunch.
- Contact the City of Berkeley if you would like outdoor waste station for your carnival or school event (hobermeit@cityofberkeley.info)
- Zero Waste School Events Guide/Infographic: Resource about planning and executing a zero waste school event.
- The Infographic summarizes the problem of wasteful school events & introduces the solutions, with information from these sources.
- The Buying Guide gives a detailed list of possible products to use in a zero-waste school event.
Stopwaste Resources
Stopwaste is a public agency with the goal of reducing waste output in Alameda County through the 4 R’s, with variety of programs and resources for schools, in addition to their work with businesses and homes. Be on alert for upcoming events such as teacher trainings on their news page. For more updates, visit their contact page or send an email to schools@stopwaste.org and request to be added to their email list.
- Signage: Stopwaste offers a “Sign Maker Tool” that allows schools to custom design their own signs with their own relevant example items.
- K-12 Schools Food Share Table Guide: Available to distribute to schools, community members and organizations working on reducing wasted food in schools
- Stopwaste’s youtube channel
- Transfer Station Field Trips: Free for 4th graders
- 4Rs Student Action Projects: a program for fifth and sixth graders to investigate and address real environmental issues at your school and put the 4Rs into practice.
Other Organizations and Resources
- Think Before You Throw: Show this 7 minute video to students in elementary and middle schools for an introduction to the importance of sorting waste and diverting it from landfills.
- TerraCycle: Will collect trash items that aren’t usually recycled, and then reuse and recycle them.
- The Ecology Center: Has resources and events to educate people and help reduce the amount of plastic and other trash that we use.
- Recology: A large portion of their work involves educating customers and children about the recycling programs available to them.
- Earth Capades: school assemblies with environmental education themes
- Case Study: Teacher Jackie O’Mania at Oxford Elementary taught math and science through reducing waste in her classroom to a single quart for the whole year.