WRDSB announced plan to remove garbage bins from classrooms before reversing decision

The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) announced, and then abruptly reversed, a plan to remove garbage bins from classrooms.

Jeff Pelich, the president of the Waterloo Region chapter of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, said a memo outlining the plan was sent to schools last week and he immediately started hearing from members.

“At first we thought we were being punked,” Pelich said.

The board’s memo says the intention is to reduce the number of garbage bags used, and this initiative would do so by 80 per cent. Pelich said teachers should have been consulted first.

“So students would have to leave the room and go to find that centralized garbage somewhere. And for us, that poses a bit of a challenge because it's supervision and it's also loss in learning time,” Pelich said.

He said the lack of garbage bins in classrooms could also be a sanitary concern.

“More concerning for us is that the garbages are definitely used for things like Kleenexes, for paper towels, potentially hazardous items that need to go somewhere and leaving them on the desk or on the floor is not an appropriate place,” Pelich said. “And so we want to ensure that there is a place in the room that they can be safely disposed of.”

The memo did not indicate how centralized garbage bins would work for classrooms in portables.

Pelich said on Monday, the board sent another memo, putting the plan on hold and promising further consultation before moving forward.

Pelich hopes that decisions on how waste can be reduced in schools can be made on a school-by-school basis.

“I think the dream scenario is where they put a challenge to the school where they say, we'd like to reduce waste by 50 per cent and put it to the school and maybe some time and money to say, ‘how can we make this work?’” said Pelich.

WRDSB reacts

In an email to CTV News, the WRDSB said the board remains committed to working together with staff through the school board to reduce waste.

"While we recently began exploring a process to reduce the number of waste receptacles at schools, we recognize the importance of ensuring the decisions being made are meeting school needs,” said Chris Sagar, superintendent of facility services. "The reduction of waste receptacles was guided by our understanding that fewer bins promotes critical thinking about what is thrown away, that fewer bins allow for more visible options to reuse or recycle materials, and that it improves the cleanliness of our schools, classrooms and offices, in addition to reducing costs related to waste. "

The board added that students have been calling for more concrete actions on environmental issues.

For its part, the board has committed to reducing waste bins at staff desks at the education centre.