DIRT TO SOIL
About the project
A project that aims at identifying the problem of food wastage, understanding the need for composting, creating compost in school itself and selling the same to our community.
Driving Question
What are the different resources that we waste in school? What can we do to solve the problem of wastage?
Process
We began by discussing the different resources wasted in school and narrowed down the problem of food wastage.
Food wastage surveys sent out to the students across the school helped to find out how many students are unable to finish their food and what do they do with the waste food.
Interactive session by Ms. Ranju Minhas, an educationist and environment crusader helped the students to understand the importance of composting and different ways to create compost. Under the guidance of the expert Mr. Madhukar from Rise Foundation we procured the drum roller and understood the process of composting.
The class was further divided into different groups- Soil Soldiers, Soil Scientists, Packaging Team, Marketing Team and Sales Executives. Clear roles and responsibilities were assigned to each group.
- Soil Soldiers- Created the circular to bring food peels and the food survey. They also maintained a roster for themselves and took regular turns to rotate the drum roller and monitor the composting.
- Soil Scientist- Tried composting at home, conducted experiments on identifying good compost and differentiate between good and not-so-good compost.
- Packaging Team- Designed logos and finalised the prototype of their packets keeping in mind that it should be eco-friendly and able to hold the desired quantity.
- Marketing Team- Reached out to different classes and encouraged students and teachers to bring peels for the compost. They also motivated others to bring just enough food so that food is not wasted.
- Sales Executives- Conducted market surveys on different compost brands available and studied their unique characteristics. They even compared the market prices offered by different brands and decided the cost of their own compost based on it.
Videos and PowerPoint Presentations made the teaching and learning experience inspiring for the children especially the documentary on Nek Chand who all by himself recycled and reused waste material to create the famous Rock Garden in Chandigarh.
Project Culmination
The compost created by the students in school was packaged and sold to our NiBS community on the culmination day. The students also shared their journey and put-up different stations for the parents to try different activities and explore and gather more information about composting.
Teacher Reflection
“There is no such thing as ‘away’, when we throw anything away it must go somewhere.” – Annie Leonard
The idea of doing something to avoid the food wastage and find a solution to this problem was in itself very satisfying for me.
It was a pleasure to see the children work on this project with complete dedication and enthusiasm. They religiously went around the school to collect fruit and vegetable peels, motivated peers to get just enough food, conducted market surveys to understand the different composts sold in the market.
I am so proud of their effort, commitment and zeal to bring in a change and make their own little contribution towards this cause.
