Learning about litter & waste
Students at Blenheim School are learning all about rubbish and waste this term.
Resource Recovery Centre
After experiencing The Rubbish Trip and finding out how long some of the products and packaging that we use takes to break down, they joined us for a guided tour of Marlborough’s Resource Recovery Centre. This was so they could see where their recycling goes once it leaves the kerbside, and what it gets made into. They also visited the reuse shop, the compost site, hazardous waste store and commercial sorting facility. They were surprised to discover that they were wearing recycled plastic drink bottles as fleeces and that our really nasty hazardous waste goes all the way to Europe to get burnt!
The Drain Game
Next, the Drain Game came to school, so that students could find out where stuff goes when it goes ‘down the drain’. They did some pouring and observing, and discovered that indoor drains like the toilet and kitchen sink connect to Marlborough’s Waste Water Treatment Plant. At the Treatment Plant, the dirty water gets cleaned before it is released into Cloudy Bay. After some more experimentation, they learnt that outdoor drains, like guttering and downpipes, and the stormwater drains in our carparks and streets, connect directly with the Taylor River. This means that if anything yucky goes down these drains – like oil, paint, soap suds or rubbish – it pollutes the river and can make the animals that live there sick.
The students had lots of ideas about what they could do at school to reduce waste and keep their stormwater clean. We are looking forward to seeing them take action to make a positive difference to our environment.