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The role of intergenerational influence in waste education programmes: the THAW Project

The role of intergenerational influence in waste education programmes: the THAW Project
The role of intergenerational influence in waste education programmes: the THAW Project
Whilst the education of young people is often seen as a part of the solution to current environmental problems seeking urgent attention, it is often forgotten that their parents and other household members can also be educated/influenced via home-based educational activities. This paper explores the theory of intergenerational influence in relation to school based waste education. Waste Watch, a UK-based environmental charity (www.wastewatch.org.uk), has pioneered a model that uses practical activities and whole school involvement to promote school based action on waste. This methodology has been adopted nationally. This paper outlines and evaluates how effective school based waste education is in promoting action at a household level.

The paper outlines Waste Watch’s ‘Taking Home Action on Waste (THAW)’ project carried out for two and half years in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, England.
The project worked with 6,705 primary age children in 39 schools (44% of primary schools in the project area) to enable them to take the “reduce, reuse and recycle message” home to their families and to engage these (i.e. families) in sustainable waste management practices.

As well as substantial increases in students’ knowledge and understanding of waste reduction, measurement of the impact of the project in areas around 12 carefully chosen sample schools showed evidence of increased participation in recycling and recycling tonnages as well as declining levels of residual waste. Following delivery of the project in these areas, an average increase of 8.6% was recorded in recycling set out rates which led to a 4.3% increase in paper recycling tonnages and an 8.7% increase in tonnages of cans, glass and textiles collected for recycling. Correspondingly, there was a 4.5% fall in tonnages of residual waste.

Waste Watch’s THAW project was the first serious attempt to measure the intergenerational influence of an education programme on behaviour at home (i.e. other than schools’ own waste). It clearly shows that household recycling behaviour can be positively impacted by intergenerational influence via a practical school-based waste education model. However, although the model could potentially have a big impact if rolled out nationally, it will require seed funding and the long-term durability of the model has not yet been fully quantified.
0956-053X
2590-2600
Maddox, Paul
83a04285-1c9d-4828-b0f9-51dec4e272ed
Doran, Catherine
7af2b600-a8ce-41d0-82c3-41206824561b
Williams, I.D.
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
Kus, Melike
759fa57e-3d85-4732-bfaa-cf143ec6d274
Maddox, Paul
83a04285-1c9d-4828-b0f9-51dec4e272ed
Doran, Catherine
7af2b600-a8ce-41d0-82c3-41206824561b
Williams, I.D.
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
Kus, Melike
759fa57e-3d85-4732-bfaa-cf143ec6d274

Maddox, Paul, Doran, Catherine, Williams, I.D. and Kus, Melike (2011) The role of intergenerational influence in waste education programmes: the THAW Project. Waste Management, 31 (12), 2590-2600. (doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2011.07.023).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Whilst the education of young people is often seen as a part of the solution to current environmental problems seeking urgent attention, it is often forgotten that their parents and other household members can also be educated/influenced via home-based educational activities. This paper explores the theory of intergenerational influence in relation to school based waste education. Waste Watch, a UK-based environmental charity (www.wastewatch.org.uk), has pioneered a model that uses practical activities and whole school involvement to promote school based action on waste. This methodology has been adopted nationally. This paper outlines and evaluates how effective school based waste education is in promoting action at a household level.

The paper outlines Waste Watch’s ‘Taking Home Action on Waste (THAW)’ project carried out for two and half years in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, England.
The project worked with 6,705 primary age children in 39 schools (44% of primary schools in the project area) to enable them to take the “reduce, reuse and recycle message” home to their families and to engage these (i.e. families) in sustainable waste management practices.

As well as substantial increases in students’ knowledge and understanding of waste reduction, measurement of the impact of the project in areas around 12 carefully chosen sample schools showed evidence of increased participation in recycling and recycling tonnages as well as declining levels of residual waste. Following delivery of the project in these areas, an average increase of 8.6% was recorded in recycling set out rates which led to a 4.3% increase in paper recycling tonnages and an 8.7% increase in tonnages of cans, glass and textiles collected for recycling. Correspondingly, there was a 4.5% fall in tonnages of residual waste.

Waste Watch’s THAW project was the first serious attempt to measure the intergenerational influence of an education programme on behaviour at home (i.e. other than schools’ own waste). It clearly shows that household recycling behaviour can be positively impacted by intergenerational influence via a practical school-based waste education model. However, although the model could potentially have a big impact if rolled out nationally, it will require seed funding and the long-term durability of the model has not yet been fully quantified.

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More information

Published date: 2011
Organisations: Centre for Environmental Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 346365
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/346365
ISSN: 0956-053X
PURE UUID: 59da04f4-cec2-4769-9a82-38e17e61b5bf
ORCID for I.D. Williams: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0121-1219

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 19 Dec 2012 11:49
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:22

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Contributors

Author: Paul Maddox
Author: Catherine Doran
Author: I.D. Williams ORCID iD
Author: Melike Kus

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