Waste in education: the potential of materiality and practice

Abstract

This article explores how waste materials and waste practices figure in education, pointing to educational potentials of waste which have hitherto received little consideration in environmental and sustainability education practice and research. Building on empirical research on waste education in Danish schools and preschools, we discuss how an empirical and theoretical focus on waste as material and on waste practices moves beyond conventional approaches to waste in education. Seeking to overcome the shortcomings of habitual-behavioural and rational action approaches, we argue for an approach to waste education which encourages pupils to explore the socio-material aspects and trajectories of waste practices and waste materials.

Keywords:

• Waste education
• school
• preschool
• materiality
• practice

Notes

1. Remida is named after the myth of King Midas, about whom it is said that everything he touched turned to gold. It forms part of the Italian Reggio Emilia pedagogical philosophy, which is based on the idea of the child as resourceful and curious, and the role of pedagogues as listeners, posing questions rather than presenting answers (Cecchin 1999).

2. https://www.uvm.dk/Uddannelser/Folkeskolen/Laering-og-laeringsmiljoe/Den-aabne-skole.