Waste Management and Circular Resources

• Know the main streams: wet, dry recyclable, sanitary and hazardous, plus e-waste, plastic, construction and biomedical.
• Use the colour code your city follows, usually green for wet and blue for dry.
• Know that bulk generators must segregate at source and follow the national solid waste rules.
• Keep hazardous waste away from household streams.

Activity. Classify 20 items into correct streams.

Standard to meet. Answer at least 18 of 20 correctly.

• Collect one full day of waste from the site.
• Sort it by stream and weigh each part with the scale.
• Calculate each stream as a percent of the total.
• Repeat for three days and average.

Activity. Audit one site for three days.

Standard to meet. Check that stream weights add up to the total within 3 percent.

• Place bins in the right spots with clear colour and picture labels.
• Train residents or staff in a 15 minute session.
• Give feedback on mistakes and thank good practice.
• Check bins weekly for contamination and report the rate.

Activity. Run a short training and check bins.

Standard to meet. Measure the contamination rate before and after.

• Mix two parts brown dry leaves with one part green kitchen waste.
• Keep the pile moist like a squeezed sponge and turn it weekly.
• Expect compost in 6 to 8 weeks; the finished pile smells earthy.
• Fix problems: smell means too wet, no heat means too dry or too little green.

Activity. Set up a small compost pit and log temperature.

Standard to meet. Bring the pile to warmth within a week with no foul smell.

• Plan a route that visits dense areas first and avoids backtracking.
• Calculate trips from vehicle capacity and daily waste.
• Sell clean dry recyclables to registered buyers and keep weight slips.
• Use a transfer point for sorting before final disposal.

Activity. Plan a route for 200 homes.

Standard to meet. Calculate trips and times and map the route.

• Provide gloves, boots, masks, reflective vests and hand wash points.
• Offer vaccines and regular health checks.
• Never let workers sort mixed waste with bare hands or enter pits without clearance.
• Keep an incident log and first aid kit.

Activity. Write a safety plan and check gear.

Standard to meet. Plan lists gear, training and emergency steps.

• Store e-waste and batteries in dry closed containers.
• Hand them only to authorised collectors and keep receipts.
• Know that producers have take-back duties for plastics and electronics.
• Never burn waste, because smoke harms health and is illegal.

Activity. Set up a collection point and a record sheet.

Standard to meet. Give each handover a receipt and check that the log matches.

• Set targets, for example diversion from landfill from 30 percent to 70 percent.
• Run the plan for a month with daily weights.
• Cost it: bins, labour, transport, revenue from recyclables and compost.
• Write a monthly report with charts and next steps.

Activity. Present the plan and report.

Standard to meet. Report shows weights, diversion, costs and corrective actions.

Classify 20 waste items into the correct streams (wet, dry, hazardous, e-waste) with no more than 2 errors.

Speaker notes. Teacher lays out 20 items and counts the errors. Covered in module 1.

Explain why segregation at source matters and show how one household sorts into 4 bins, naming the harm if the bins are mixed.

Speaker notes. Teacher asks about a battery in a wet bin and checks the harm is named. Covered in module 3, Segregation at source and behaviour.

Audit one site under guidance by weighing waste over 3 days and presenting a table of kilograms by stream.

Speaker notes. Teacher checks the scale readings and that totals add up. Covered in module 2, Waste audit.

Run a site plan alone that cuts mixed waste by 20 percent in a month, with weights, bin counts and a collection schedule.

Speaker notes. Teacher compares first and last weights. Covered in module 8, Capstone: site waste plan.

Supervise a team of 6 and plan a route that covers 100 percent of stops, with protective gear checked each morning.

Speaker notes. Teacher walks the route map and checks the gear log. Covered in module 6.

Manage a ward or facility with 3 targets, such as 70 percent segregation, and report monthly weights. Check local waste rules with an expert.

Speaker notes. Teacher verifies the report against weighbridge slips.

Draft a city waste policy with 4 measured targets, a cost table and a yearly review, based on audit data from at least 5 sites.

Speaker notes. Teacher checks each target links to audit data.