LOOP's School Project

Norwegian children learns how to separate waste

Producer responsibility organisations in Norway have made a joint project targeting schools. This project is made in cooperation with local government and waste management companies. The project consists of folders for 1st, 4th and 9th grade, in addition to an Internet site for pupils at LOOP.no. The goal is to teach children why it is important to handle the resources (waste) in a good way, how they should separate the waste and what happens to the waste once it has been separated. It is also a goal that parents will get involved, through helping their children with homework, so that the topic comes up for discussion at home.

The folders are distributed to the schools mainly via local government and waste management companies. The producer responsibility organisations finance the development and running of the project, whilst local government and waste management companies are responsible for the distribution and marketing of it to schools in their area. Another goal is that as many pupils as possible should get the opportunity for an excursion where they visit a waste management plant. 100.000 pupils have worked on the folders since fall 2003 and approximately 30.000 pupils have visited a waste management plant.

This way of cooperating brings forth many positive aspects:

• The schools get free material that presents all the different waste categories and gives a full picture of what waste separation and recycling is all about.
• The producer responsibility organisations get a project to a much lower prize that if they were to produce their own material.
• Local government and waste management companies get free material for schools that presents all waste categories and can concentrate on their contact with the local schools. If they provide a good offer to the schools, it will strengthen the level of knowledge among the local population regarding recycling, and it will further improve the reputation of the waste management company.