Waste education programs

Your school can explore ways to reduce waste with our education programs and learning materials.

Woman with striped shirt holding a green box of recyclable items including cardboard and brown paper.

Why reduce waste in your school?

There is a lot that schools can do to reduce waste.

To engage and support teachers and education professionals, Council has developed A Schools Guide to Reducing Waste and various waste management programs for schools to create a positive environmental culture. We invite all teachers and education professionals to register their classes according to the age of the students in one of the following programs.

Things to know

Schools can access Council's waste education programs and online resources for free.
A School's Guide to Reducing Waste includes a waste audit kit and assessment tool to help you create a personalised waste management action plan for your school.
Waste Smart Kindy provides free online courses and toolkits with sustainability ideas for kindergartens and early learning centres.
The Towards Zero Waste Education Centre is open for schools and community groups and is located at the Brisbane landfill site at Rochedale.

Bins for schools

Brisbane schools can contact Council to discuss their waste management needs, including ordering recycling, general and green waste bins.

Learn more about options for schools

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What goes in my bins?

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A school's guide to reducing waste

Understanding what type of waste your school creates is the first step to reducing it.

This guide is part of a three-step approach to help educators, students, and cleaning and administrative staff promote sustainability at school using a waste action plan.

Reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
Save money on waste disposal costs.
Help conserve energy, water and non-renewable resources.

Did you know?

By implementing a waste action plan, students and staff who are enthusiastic about becoming ‘waste wise’ become advocates for environmentally responsible behaviour among broader communities. This awareness influences schools and students’ families to work together to recycle more and reduce waste over time.

Create a school waste action plan

Download the guide

The guide steps you through the waste audit process and how to take steps to reduce waste at school.

A School's Guide to Reducing Waste

PDF • 1 MB • Last modified 01/10/2024

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Complete a waste audit

You can borrow a waste audit kit to make it easy to complete a school solid waste audit. Register to borrow a free kit.

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Assess your results

Enter the results from your audit into the online school waste mangement tool. Follow the 5-step process to develop, implement and review your school waste management plan.

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Waste Smart Kindy program

Waste Smart Kindy is an active environmental learning program that aims to assist educators in implementing waste-management best practices. This program includes a free professional development course to become a recognised Waste Smart Kindy.

Program snapshot

Target group: Children from 0-4 years of age.
Eligible: Early learning centres and kindergartens (including family day care and day care centres).
Purpose: Waste management awareness using biodiversity activities to increase positive behaviours towards recycling, composting and reduction of waste to landfill.

Become a Waste Smart Kindy

Complete the online course

The Waste Smart Kindy professional development course has 4 units. Educators can complete the course at their own pace.

Educators can complete all units of the course at once, or complete units one at a time. We recommend starting with unit 1.

Unit 1: Setting up a Waste Smart Kindy

Learn how to manage the waste at your centre more sustainably.

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Unit 2: Recycling

Find out what can be recycled and how to encourage recycling within your centre.

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Unit 3: Compost and worm farming

Set up and maintain a compost bin or worm farm with practical and easy tips from the experts.

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Unit 4: Munch and Crunch

Discover how to reduce food waste at your centre.

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Receive your free toolkit

The toolkit contains lesson plans and ideas for encouraging good waste management and recycling, as well as digital and print materials (certificate, bin stickers, a guide, fact sheets and digital assets).

Become an official Waste Smart Kindy

Early learning centres or services where 75% of staff have completed the online professional development course within the past 3 years should consider applying to become a Waste Smart Kindy.

To apply, complete the online application form and provide evidence that the requirements listed in the terms and conditions have been met.

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Things to know

Check if you meet the eligibility criteria in the terms and conditions.
The director or manager of the learning centre must complete the online form as listed in the terms and conditions.
You will be contacted within 4 weeks of submitting your application with a request to visit your premises to complete the assessment process.
Successful applicants will receive an education pack, as well as a certificate, banner and digital assets. See the full list of awards in the terms and conditions.

Access more resources on waste management and find sustainability activities for children by visiting Get Grubby programopens in a new tab website.

Read the terms and conditions

Waste Smart Kindy program terms and conditions

PDF • 425 KB • Last modified 01/10/2024

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Ashgrove West Kindy, Ashgrove

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Bowen Hills

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Cannon Hill

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Jindalee

Avenues Early Learning Centre, McDowall

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Paddington

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Parkinson

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Runcorn Heights

Avenues Early Learning Centre, Sunnybank Hills

Avenues Montessori Children's House, Bowen Hills

Balmoral House Private Preschool

C&K QUT Kelvin Grove Community Childcare Centre, Kelvin Grove

C&K St Catherine's Community Kindergarten, Wishart

Canossa Kindergarten, Coorparoo

Centenary Christian Kindergarten, Middle Park

Children @ Bay Terrace, Wynnum

Eight Mile Plains Community Children's Centre, Eight Mile Plains

Gan Gani Community Kindergarten, Fig Tree Pocket

Guardian Childcare & Education, Coopers Plains

Hillsong Child Care Centre, Mt Gravatt

Kurilpa Community Child Care Centre, West End

Lead Childcare, Tingalpa

Little + Co Early Learning, Morningside

Little Locals Early Learning, Auchenflower

Marchant Park Kindergarten, Geebung

Mater Early Learning Centre, South Brisbane

Montessori Children's House, Auchenflower

Pallara Childcare, Pallara

Perfect Beginnings Early Learning Centre, Eight Mile Plains

Prior Street Childcare and Development, Tarragindi

Sparrow Early Learning, Stones Corner

St John's Anglican College Little Saints Kindergarten, Forest Lake

Staverton Kindergarten, Chelmer

Tarragindi War Memorial Kindergarten

The Learning Sanctuary, Morningside

Tumble Tots, Stafford Heights (closed in 2024)

West End Scott Street Community Kindergarten

Towards Zero Waste Education Centre

The Towards Zero Waste Education Centre is a Council initiative located at the Brisbane landfill site at Rochedale. The centre welcomes visitors wishing to learn about waste minimisation practices and landfill operations.

Program snapshot

Eligibility: Bookings are open to local school and community groups.
Purpose: Develop an awareness of good practices for waste management and learn how to evaluate the environmental consequences of human behaviour and consumption.
Includes: A 30-minute presentation on waste minimisation and landfill operations, followed by a 30-minute bus tour.

Things to know

The centre is open to local schools and organisations on Tuesday and Thursday by appointment only. There is no cost for visits to the centre.
Schools can book for a maximum of 70 people with 2 groups of 35 people including students, teachers, and parent volunteers.
Your school will need to organise a bus and ensure it is available for the duration of the excursion. Council does not provide a bus. No private cars are allowed.

Visitors can enjoy a 30-minute waste minimisation and landfill operations presentation, followed by a 30-minute bus tour.
The minimum number of people for a booking is 10. The centre can accommodate a maximum of 35 people at a time.
Children under 8 years of age are not permitted at the Brisbane landfill site.

Book a visit

Phone Council on 07 3403 8888 or send an email.

Helpful links

Frequently asked questions

To make your school more sustainable, start by conducting a waste audit to measure your school's waste management processes and identify areas where you can improve and reduce costs. There are many ways to carry out a sustainability project depending on the needs of the school. Remember that the best green project is one led by an enthusiastic and committed school community.

Council’s waste audit kitopens in a new tab includes a copy of A School's Guide to Reducing Waste, large and small tarps for sorting waste, recycling buckets, a set of tongs and gloves as well as cleaning and safety equipment. Loan kits are available for one week (7 days).

After completing the questions in A School’s Guide to Reducing Waste, you can enter your information and results from the audit and start your school’s waste management plan via an easy five-step process. See details of the steps via the School Waste Assessment toolopens in a new tab.

Don’t wait for World Environment Dayopens in a new tab to implement sustainable activities in your school. Once students are engaged in active learning about the environment, it is time to engage in hands-on activities related to their daily lives.

Ask them to choose an environmental issue that is close to their hearts and let them do their own research. This could be studying the lifecycle of plastic, encouraging the collection of recyclable items at school, determining how to encourage the reuse of paper or reducing food waste at school by talking with your canteen/tuckshop staff members.

You can also take part in a school clean-up dayopens in a new tab or sign up to participate in national events such as Clean Up Australia Dayopens in a new tab.

Arrange a visit to the Brisbane landfill site to learn about the waste hierarchy and work towards zero waste.

One of the easiest ways to reuse paper is to encourage students to always use both sides of a sheet of paper before recycling it. Teachers and students can reinforce recycling habits by placing a "reuse box" next to printers. Use recycling signs to clearly label these containers and their purposes.

Other ideas for reusing paper at school:

use and buy recycled paper
place the remaining sheets with a blank side in the reuse box
reuse paper for notes and memos
cut off unused portions of paper to use as bookmarks.

Redirect food scraps generated at your school into compost and not into the rubbish bin. Food scraps, garden waste, and shredded paper and cardboard can all be composted. Purchase a comost bin (use our What goes in my compost bin poster to label it) and find somewhere outside that is easy to access but not too close to the play area. Fill your compost bin with food scraps – it's important to mix them with high-carbon materials like leaves or newspapers. Regularly sprinkle the compost with water to help keep it moist. Aeration can be done by regularly turning a compost tumbler or mixing the material in the compost pile or bin with a garden fork.

If you'd like to learn more, attend one of our free compost and worm farm workshops.

Conduct a waste audit, to check which sustainability practices are most relevant to your school.

You can then:

start a vegetable garden with a compost system
order large recycling bins
install dedicated recycling stations with recycling labels
connect with others beyond the school – participate in youth networks and programs for school.

Waste education programs

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