Education

Education is a key component of Operation Clean Sweep.  By creating awareness through classroom presentations, OCS Team members have reached out to over 4000 students in New Bedford. We ask the students  to think about their trash and how to dispose of it properly.  We encourage everyone to recycle and NOT Litter.

“WHERE DOES IT GO?” – In partnership with Alma Del Mar Charter School – The goal of this pilot program is to encourage students to understand the need for and demonstrate responsible trash removal and recycling behaviors that will serve as models to others.

 

Thank you to our guest speaker Scott Alphonse from the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District.

Student gather to “make” a landfill

Landfills are made up of layers

Mock up landfill – complete!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students learn about landfills and create a mock up of their own.

The Operation Clean Sweep Education Team is presented a 10-week after school program to selected fourth and fifth grade students at the Alma Del Mar School. This program, called “WHERE DOES IT GO?’, examined what happens to things that are discarded. The concept of recycling and litter prevention were addressed, along with an understanding of how a landfill and a sewer system function.

Guest speakers explained landfill management, water movement and interaction with materials, and sewage treatment.

Students completed a recycle patrol of their own school to determine how recycling works in their school. Students also participated in a litter cleanup outside their school. Evidence collected from the clean up and the recycle patrol were examined by the students to see what kinds of materials are being placed in recycle and trash bins, and what kinds of litter is outside their school building. Student participants created posters to encourage others to dispose of trash appropriately and recycle appropriate materials.

Cigarette Butts are Litter too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMo2qyI5Its

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2013/08/-lets-get-serious-about-cigarette-litter-no-ifs-ands-or-butts/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gat4ReeZSPA