Garbology lessons create a new generation of little waste warriors

From segregating waste at source, to composting and knowing the resin code of plastics, garbology lessons in school syllabus empower the next generation on scientific waste management

“In this ‘Follow The Bottle’ month, our students track the journey of the bottle from source to end,” says Shyamala Raja, coordinator of Garbology, a programme on waste management underway in 10 schools (managed by the RAMCO group, of which five are government aided), in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu. Last month, in the ‘Map My Soft Drink’ programme, children learnt to make an informed choice about the container when they decide to have a soft drink. “When disposed, a PET bottle will remain in a landfill for hundreds of years, a metal container can be recycled, and a glass bottle can be reused at least 30 times, the responsibility of making a choice rests in our hands,” says Shyamala.  

Conceptualised and created by Auroville-based social entrepreneurs Ribhu Vohra and Chandrah Nusselein, the Garbology journey started with the founding of WasteLess, a non-profit social enterprise in 2011. “We believe that, through education, we can initiate significant changes in the way we make, dispose, and think about waste. Our dream was that children also become changemakers at home. Many take this new knowledge home and inspire changes there.”

Impressed by the research behind the programme, Nirmala Raju, who heads the CSR initiatives of the Rajapalayam-based RAMCO group, introduced the concept at Arsha Vidya Mandir in Chennai in 2014. “We have the Swachh Bharat Mission but what is the process behind managing our waste?” she asks. Simultaneously she facilitated the subject in 10 schools, five government-aided and five under the RAMCO group at Rajapalayam. She also met the State Education Minister and the subject was integrated into textbooks in 2019 and is taught in 234 government schools in Tamil Nadu. The activity-based programmes were stalled during the pandemic but are now back in full swing.

“We signed an MOU to train government school teachers in the subject and integrate the concept in to textbooks” says Nirmala pointing out that the behaviour change in children was evident and a key reason why the programme should be part of the syllabus. In a follow up, representatives of schools from across the 37 districts were trained at Tiruchirappalli and Rajapalayam, over four sessions. “We were sitting with government teachers and writing Garbology concepts. Millions of textbooks were printed in Tamil, English and Arabic,” says Nirmala explaining that information on plastics was integrated into the chapter on carbon and its compounds.

One of the first programmes, Garbology 101, is an interactive educational tool for the six–12 age group. A free online version, Garbolite contains 13 extensively tested classroom activities designed to instil knowledge of waste management and inspire behavioural change.

Ribhu who left his corporate job in the Netherlands in 2008 and spent a year travelling around the world discovered that waste management was a challenge in every country. He spent more than three years working on grassroots waste management projects with residents and local government, researching innovative and sustainable methods to increase resource recovery from Indian waste. Joined by Chandrah, with her background in child-centred pedagogy, the two developed Garbology 101.

Apart from looking at the best practices in all countries, the duo co-design the programmes along with teachers and students. “We sit at the back in classrooms and watch the teacher unspool our content and observe student reactions,” says Ribhu. “We see a keen interest to share information and 97% Ninety seven percent of the children go back home and share the information with their parents.” The team’s latest offering is the kNOw Plastic programme that includes a Memory Game.