“The kids really had a great time, I didn’t expect them to be so excited about finding litter, big and small.”
- Lakewood Montessori Middle School
This past spring, Keep Durham Beautiful launched the pilot for a new litter prevention program, Litter Kits in Schools. The program was created with the intention of providing resources to Durham schools to conduct litter clean ups and incorporate sustainability lessons at their school grounds. After a 2019 survey of Durham teachers highlighted a need for sustainability-focused resources and lessons at local schools, the Litter Kits in Schools program was created. The program provides a litter kit and an accompany curriculum to with the intention of providing sustainability-focused materials and resources to Durham schools. A litter prevention and waste reduction curriculum was developed with the Clean Water Education Partnership from Triangle J Council of Governments for participating teachers in the program, to be used in tandem with a litter pick up kit for 15 students per clean up provided at each participating school. Since the pandemic delayed the program, KDB’s newest AmeriCorps service member, Princess Mutasa, has taken on recruiting schools and managing the program!
“The curriculum was good and they enjoyed it. Being able to have their own tools gave students a sense of ownership. And we tried to explain to them that picking up trash could also lead to jobs, so we incorporated quite a bit with that curriculum.”
- George Watts Elementary School
A variety of schools from the Durham area participated in this pilot launch, from March to June 2022. A majority of the participating schools serve elementary students, with two middle schools and two high schools. Every participating school received clean up supplies for 15 students, as well as access to additional education resources for outdoor and low-cost activities and lessons. Schools were required to submit litter clean up reports after every clean up using the kit, as is required for all of litter clean up events.
From March to June, 75 clean ups were reported, with 1,470 students collecting 5,442 total pounds of litter!
“The kids were so excited to do this! They felt like they were making a contribution, and other folks noticed the students picking up litter as well.”
- Oak Grove Elementary School
Teachers also reported noticeable behavior changes amongst students after using the kit and curriculum in classrooms. 80% of participating schools reported positive behavior regarding litter prevention in students who used the kit. Some teachers were even able to use the kits for other purposes such as using the grabbers to sort composting, creating art from pieces of litter, and creating litter competitions in the school using the kit. In the coming school year, 16 schools have already expressed intent to keep using their kits and reporting clean ups. The next school year will see even more students getting to learn more about sustainability!
Some teachers came up with some unconventional uses of the kit!
Behavior change and impact metrics from a post-program survey of participating teachers