Bottle waste challenge

A practical activity to count, forecast and reduce plastic bottles in school. 

Students will

• reflect on their own bottled drink consumption.
• critically reflect on their own position as consumers.
• become aware of the effects of consumption decisions.
• realise that by drinking tap water, they can start to reduce waste.
• set goals to produce less plastic waste and dispose of it appropriately. 

1 hour

• Bags or baskets with the bottle waste from your school (e.g., from one day or one week)
• Poster
• Pens   

Additional material:

• collection of educational materials on the topic of tap water instead of plastic-filled drinks on the website waterschools.eu
• Plastic pollution – global brand audit report

In this activity, the school's plastic bottle waste is scrutinised: How high is the savings potential? How can we become a plastic bottle-free school?

1. Quiz for the whole school

• Collect the entire schools bottle waste for 1 day (or 1 week).
• Ask students to estimate the amount of the (daily, weekly) bottle waste from the school. Question: Here is one day's bottle waste from our school. On very hot days, it can be even more. How many bottles do you think are in the basket/bag on the floor...?
• The students give an estimate.

2. Count the bottle waste and compare with the votes

• After everyone has voted, the bottles are counted and compared with the estimates given. Who was closest?
• The winners class gets a prize (e.g., a visit to the drinking water supplier, or the waste disposal centre).

3. Present and discuss the result

• Calculate the school's annual bottle waste based on the daily waste.
• Display the school's calculated amount of plastic bottle waste per year on a poster.
• What could we do as a school to reduce this amount or become a plastic bottle-free school (e.g., become a waterschool, use vending machines with refillable glass bottles, or with a 'fill your own bottle' function)?
• Set up an action plan to reduce the bottle-waste.

4. Consolidation of what was learnt.

• For evaluation repeat the 'bottle waste counting'- activity after a few months. Could we reduce our plastic waste? What was successful?

Additional activities:

• Become a 'Waterschool', see resource Waterschools
• Promote tap water, see resource Story of Bottled Water
• Tap water challenge: Try to drink only tap water for a week (or 2 weeks). Do you notice any changes in yourself? (Are you more alert? Is your skin better? Do you have headaches? How do you feel?)

Nature: Environmental protection and sustainability, consumer education

Maths: Working with tables, displaying numbers, estimating numbers

Geography: Working with tables and numbers