It’s Cool to Compost!

Introduction

Ask students : Where does family rubbish from the kitchen go? Landfill How many people have compost bins?

Landfills are full of bacteria – anaerobic bacteria. What does that mean?
What’s the opposite? Think of exercise …. Aerobic (means it needs oxygen). We’re going to look at which one contributes to a healthy atmosphere for people and which one doesn’t, and what that means for
us.

Objectives

• For the students to understand that throwing *‘away’ organic material
  leads to it going into landfills where it creates methane as it decays.
• For them to learn that methane contributes to the climate crisis and is bad for the health of people living nearby and especially for those who ‘pick over’ landfills in developing countries to make a living.
• For students to understand the importance of using composting as an alternative
• For them to create a small composting system
  *(there is no ‘away’)

Learning outcomes

By the end of this learning scenario, students will be able to:

• Understand the impact on the environment of throwing away organic material into general rubbish that ends up in landfill.
• Learn about composting and why it’s a good idea.