Andover

Elementary
School:
Waste Audit Summary
December 3rd, 2014

The Gaia Project

270 Rookwood Ave
Fredericton, NB
E3B 2M2
1 (506) 442-9030
www.thegaiaproject.ca
contact@thegaiaproject.ca

Andover Elementary School: Waste Audit Summary

A summary of the results from the waste audit conducted on December, 3rd, 2013.

Copyright 2014 The Gaia Project. Last updated on December, 6th, 2014.
Commercial reproduction of The Gaia Project materials is prohibited without prior written permission

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each decision they made along the way to their final solution.
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The Gaia Project
270 Rookwood Avenue
Fredericton, NB
E3B 2M2
Canada
1 (506) 442-9030
contact@thegaiaproject.ca

This project was supported by donations and grants from:

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Front Cover Credits

Wheelie BinsCaledonia Lane photo by Geof Wilson under a Creative Commons BY-ND 2.0 Licence
The Gaia Project www.thegaiaproject.ca

The Gaia Project and Andover Elementary

School collaborated on an audit of the schools
waste on December 3rd, 2014. Mme. Caron,
Mrs. Wright, and Mrs. Fourniers classes
along with Gaia Project staff, examined the
schools waste and discussed ways to reduce
the schools overall waste footprint.
This audit can be followed up in the future by
another audit to assess how well
recommendations and waste reduction
solutions have been implemented. This would
be done by comparing the results of this audit
to the next one, to see if the overall amount of
waste per day is reduced, and whether there
are any specific changes in the waste categories
targeted.

Paper
Recyclable plastics
Refundables
Compost
Garbage

Weighing and Sorting

Waste Audit Summary

Overview

After deciding on our 5 sorting categories,

students were provided with gloves, divided
into teams and provided with a kit of supplies.
Before any bags were opened, the weight of
each bag was recorded so that the starting
amount of waste was known and could be
checked against the final amount.
Groups then opened the bags and sorted its
contents.
We subsequently weighed the contents of each
sorting category at the end of the audit. The
data from each group was entered into an excel
spreadsheet so that we could build a picture of
how much waste the school produces in a day
in total and in each of the 5 sorting categories.

Results
Photo courtesy of ASD-W website

The Process
For the current waste audit, the custodial staff
collected all of the garbage at the school on
December 2nd, bagged it and placed it aside for
use in the waste audit. The schools paper
recycling was collected, also.

Sorting categories
We decided on 5 sorting categories:

The Gaia Project www.thegaiaproject.ca

The total weight of waste collected from 1

typical school day was approximately 47 kg. , or
approximately 103 lbs. You can find the actual
weight from each sorting category (our raw
data) in Table 1 in the Appendix.
The total weight of waste by category can be
seen in the pie chart on the following page.
Finally, the amount of waste collected and
sorted into each category has been projected
forward to provide an estimate of the waste
produced on an annual basis. Assuming 187
school days in a year, Andover Elementary
School produces approximately 8,700 kg of
waste annually. These annual projections can
be found in Table 2 in the appendix. This is a
very rough estimate.

Andover Elementary: Waste

Types
7%

Compost
24%

Refundables
2%
4%

63%

Recyclable
Plastics
Garbage

Through the process of measuring how much and

what type of waste Andover Elementary School
produces, it was discovered that on December
3rd, 2014:

13% of the waste could have been

recycled. This includes paper, recyclable
plastics, and refundable bottles and drink
containers.

24% of the waste was compostable

material.

63% of the waste was actual garbage that

needed to be there.

76% of the schools paper is effectively

being recycled with current programs.

Paper

Assuming 324 students that regularly attend

Andover Elementary, each student produces
approximately 140 grams of waste per day, and
27 kg annually.
In total, 31 kg of recycled paper was collected
and set aside for the day of the audit. That
represented 3 days worth of paper recycled at
the school. Considering the 3 kg of paper that
made its way into the waste stream, that means
that 76% of paper is being recycled instead of
thrown away (see pie chart below) on a daily
basis.
Approximately 4 liters of chocolate milk was also
recovered from the schools garbage, distributed
among many small milk containers.

The Gaia Project

Summary

Paper Recycling Per

Day
24%

Recycled Paper
(10.46 kg)

76%

Paper Thrown
Away (3.25 kg)

Recommendations
Mme. Caron, Mrs. Wright, and Mrs. Fourniers
classes
brainstormed
a
variety
of
recommendations that go toward reducing the
amount of waste generated at Andover
Elementary School. These are described below:

Take food you cant eat back home for reuse.

Bring your lunch in re-usable containers

and avoid keeping it in baggies.

Increase the number and visibility of

recycling bins, especially in the cafeteria
and snack areas.

Make noticeable signage for recycling bins.

Use both sides of any paper being used.

Print on paper in a smarter way to make

better use of it.

Remind others about paper recycling and

2
The Gaia Project www.thegaiaproject.ca

recycling in general.

Consider a composting program with bins

in the cafeteria and lots of student
involvement.

The Gaia Project is very interested in supporting

waste reduction and other energy-related
initiatives at Andover Elementary School in any
that we can. This includes getting a start on any
of the ideas generated by students above.
I look forward to discussing this report with the
school soon!

Miles Goff, Technical and Program Officer

miles.goff@thegaiaproject.ca
www.thegaiaproject.ca
1 (506) 442-9030

The Gaia Project www.thegaiaproject.ca

Waste Audit Summary

Contact Us

Appendix

The Gaia Project

Table 1. Weight (kg) per sorting category.

Group

Compost

Refundables

Recyclable Plastics

Garbage

Paper

Total
(kg)

Troopers

0.3

0.00

0.0

0.6

0.1

1.0

The amazing

0.1

0.02

0.1

1.4

0.0

1.6

Thunder
The Sparkley
Unicorn
The Braves

0.4

0.00

0.1

0.9

0.2

1.5

1.1

0.00

0.0

1.4

0.0

2.4

1.8

0.08

0.1

2.5

0.2

The Booms

0.2

0.00

0.1

0.1

0.0

The Boiis

0.2

0.04

0.2

1.1

0.4

Canada

1.1

0.15

0.1

1.0

0.2

AAM

0.5

0.04

0.1

1.4

0.1

Hockey

0.2

0.00

0.1

0.7

0.3

Zombies

0.8

0.24

0.0

1.1

0.3

4.6
0.4
1.9
2.4
2.1
1.3
2.4

Blue Garbage
Peeps

0.2

0.13

0.0

2.0

0.1

2.4

Demolition

1.41

0.18

0.37

6.35

0.18

8.5
4.2
3.5
4.3
2.0
46.6

Woman

1.06

0.02

0.18

2.74

0.23

The Viking

1.02

0.00

0.18

2.13

0.14

Red Vipers
Bulldogs

0.99
0.05

0.00
0.10

0.22
0.15

2.54
1.32

0.56
0.42

Total

11.19

1.00

2.00

29.12

3.25

Table 2. Estimated annual weight (kg) per sorting class

Sorting Class

Daily (kg)

Annual (kg)

Compost

11.2
1.0
2.0
29.1
3.3
46.6

2092.5

Refundables
Recyclable Plastics
Garbage
Paper

Total

187
374
5445.4
607.8
8706.7

2
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