The Waterloo Region District School Board has paused a short-lived plan to remove garbage bins from inside classrooms and into the hallways in a brief effort to cut down on waste being produced in its schools.
In an interview on Friday, Jeff Pelich, who is president of the ETFO in Waterloo Region, said the WRDSB issued a memo last week to administrators at schools announcing plans to remove the waste bins.
“So the board has decided to remove garbage bins from all classrooms in an effort, they have said, to lessen the impact on landfill sites and reduce the number of garbage receptacles, and also to improve efficiency,” he told Global News.
Days after issuing the initial memo, however, the school board paused its decision.
On Tuesday, Pelich told Global News that the board had issued a second memo to administrators on Monday which said it had paused the plan, to allow for additional consultation.
“As a result of the feedback we have received from both school administrators and school staff, the decision has been made to put this project on hold to allow us to seek additional consultation before moving forward,” the second memo read in part.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the board issued a statement from facilities superintendent Chris Sager, which explained the thinking behind the idea.
“The reduction of waste receptacles was guided by our understanding that fewer bins promotes critical thinking about what is thrown away, that fewer bins allow for more visible options to reuse or recycle materials, and that it improves the cleanliness of our schools, classrooms and offices, in addition to reducing costs related to waste,” he explained.
Sager noted that students have requested that the WRDSB look at ways to better deal with environmental concerns.
“In response we have developed and implemented a climate change dashboard, we are looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and waste,” Sager said. “It is integral that we ensure the well-being of today’s students and protect the environment for future students.”
On Friday, Pelich took issue with the goal of the original memo, which was sent on behalf of Sager and senior facilities manager Barry Kingsley.
“At the end of the day, there is still going to likely be a similar amount of garbage, because unfortunately, there are some things that need to go in the garbage,” he said.
“And unless they’re willing to provide the staffing support for things like composting and further recycling, I just don’t see how this is going to change anything.”
The Waterloo ETFO head noted that this move was also likely to lead to other issues as well as the kids would need to leave the classroom to throw out their waste.
“So they would have to leave their physical classroom, walk out the door into another space to throw a dirty Kleenex at it,” Pelich said.
“And as we know, that would be time away from learning, away from the supervision of their teacher and problematic from our perspective.”