My first year at my current institution, I, to borrow from Miley Cyrus, “came in like a wrecking ball.” I was (and remain) insistent on the importance of education to understand and solve social issues. As a world history teacher, there was little more important or pressing than raising awareness of, and taking tangible steps to, be upstanding global citizens. Hence, my commitment to a limited waste classroom.

I knew from the onset that a model of fully-zero waste learning, while admirable, may not be entirely realistic. But, of course, nothing helps create a limited waste classroom quite like being virtual! Our embrace of technology for both fully virtual and hybrid models of teaching can help us foster an environment of limited waste even when classes return to “normal” (whatever that might mean).

Start with the Syllabus 

My students and I have a conversation on the first day of the year about what it means to be “global citizens,” and ways that we can be good citizens within our local (classroom, school, town, etc.) communities. This sets the stage for a discussion of clear expectations that we work together to reduce trash in our classroom. I also let parents know off the bat what to expect.

Here’s the text I use on my syllabus: We will be piloting an eco-conscious classroom this year in an effort to be better global citizens.  One crucial component of this will be limiting our use of “one-time” paper in class (think the handouts you throw away as soon as you leave the room!).  While we will certainly still generate some paper waste, many of our handouts and readings will be available online through the [school portal].  We will also use whiteboards for many of our brief responses. 

In addition, there is a recycling station set up in the back of the room.  While this is not intended to replace whatever recycling systems your family may have in place, you and your family are encouraged to take advantage of this recycling center. 

Raising awareness of environmental issues and maintaining a limited waste classroom inspires students to become better local– and global– citizens.

My first year in my role, I had a fair amount of anxiety sending this syllabus home to parents, but was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response. By my second year, I had a reputation for being the “green” teacher. Case in point: One particularly peculiar moment when a student passing me in the hall seamlessly handed me a bag with a quick mention, “My mom said you would know what to do with these.” Upon further investigation, it became clear she had handed me a bag of dead batteries (and yes, I did know what to do with them– See my complete list for handling recyclables here). 

Setting the expectation for the kind of year you will have right at the beginning can help students understand limited waste as just another part of your classroom culture. Students may even begin to encourage other teachers to contribute to your recycling center and embrace other limited waste practices!

In addition to the recycling center in the classroom, I take intentional steps to limit the waste we generate, and am transparent with students about these initiatives.

Here are some of my most-effective paper workarounds: 

• Individual-sized whiteboards for students to do “Think-Pair-Share” and reflection work (ungraded) to prepare for class discussions.   (Yes, the whiteboard is novel, and yes, your students will want to doodle and/or color on the whiteboard when their reflection is done. This used to bother me until I decided that I had no desire to police my student’s (non-destructive) behavior, and that there was no actual correlation between my students’ engagement and the ‘perception’ that they were paying attention to me.)
• Use larger white boards around the room for group work and brainstorming 
• Use Hyperdocs to guide classwork, including webquests and worksheets. Particularly in the current era of hybrid and virtual education, video responses on sites like FlipGrid or Padlet can also be valuable ways to encourage student engagement without submitting handwritten work. 
• Move your assessments online– Using Google Forms, Blackbaud, or other school-provided platform. 
• For moments when paper really makes sense, try printing out a class set and slipping them in to reusable page protectors. Students can use white board markers to write on the page protector, which can be erased and used again (even across multiple years).

Many of these strategies rely pretty heavily on white board markers, which can be recycled using Crayola ColorCycle (temporarily closed due to Covid-19) or Bic’s stationary recycling program through TerraCycle. Refillable white board markers are also an option. I have a class set from a now-defunct company, though it looks like there might be some better options now on the market (such as this* set from Amazon– though each refill comes in its own packaging… so not necessarily a win/win). 

Put Student Learning Front and Center

I absolutely acknowledge that there is a tactile experience of working with paper and physical texts, and that some students may simply require different resources to succeed. So, instead of establishing cookie-cutter mandates, I prioritize student learning in a few ways: 

1. When requested, I print readings out for students (this can be crucial for some students with Individual Learning Plans– but 90% of my students have never asked to have something printed out).
2. I demonstrate ways for students to use highlight and annotate features on readings (such as using Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDFs, or converting readings to Google Docs for students to mark as they go) at the start of the year.
3. Encourage students to read physical books (rather than e-books) during reading periods.
4. Maintain the “choice” in some big projects to do hands-on arts & crafts work (such as building a 3-d model or a ‘museum exhibit’), rather than limiting students to “virtual” work (such as making a documentary or podcast). I keep a supply of “leftover” art supplies from previous projects for students to use for these assignments.

There are plenty of ways to further engage with sustainability issues in the classroom, including through Trash Audits and units on climate change and/or climate justice. However, I’ve found that, with a little bit of prep work at the beginning of the year, a limited waste classroom can be a great way to facilitate these more difficult conversations.

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