Twenty-nine students from Isabella Dicken Elementary School (IDES) recently went behind-the-scenes, to witness the process of recycling a cities worth of garbage.
On June 13th, Madame Patrice and her Grade 6 French immersion class boarded a bus to Cranbrook, to explore where their garbage and recycling goes.
This trip was directed in part by the Wildsight Beyond Recycling program and the Regional District of East Kootenay.
Starting from when an individual gets rid of their garbage, students witnessed the entire process of recycling unwanted goods. Loree Duczek took the students on a tour through the Materials Recycling Facility and Process Plant.
Students learned that in 2016, 32,810 trees were saved by recycling paper in the Kootenays. They also discussed recycling on a global scale; North Americans use 80-million pop cans per year, and in Canada alone, consumers use and dispose of 55-million plastic bags, every week.
This waste field trip was a part of the Beyond Recycling program, a year-long environmental education program designed by Wildsight, which aims to educated students in grades five and six.
Ten years ago, it was developed in Fernie, and now spans throughout 19 classrooms in the Columbia Basin area.
This year, Beyond Recycling was offered in two Fernie classrooms and one in Elkford.
Next on the list of activities for the students at IDES is the Real Food Potluck, where students are challenged to bring a locally-sourced meal to share with other students at the end of the program.
Learn more about Beyond Recycling at Beyondrecycling.ca.