SWACO School Waste Reduction Programming Survey

2. First Name

4. Last Name

6. Title

8. Name of School District

9. Name of School or Building

11. Phone

12. Email

14. Are you currently involved in the coordination of waste reduction and recycling educational activities at your building?

    1. Yes
    2. No

16. If so, please explain your level of involvement.

18. Are you currently involved in the coordination of collection of materials at your building (e.g., recycling services, teacher or staff organizer, custodial)?

    1. Yes
    2. No

20. If so, please explain your level of involvement.

22. If you do not identify with the above roles but are involved, please describe your level of involvement with waste reduction and recycling at your building.

26. STUDENT EDUCATION SECTION - The following questions will help SWACO understand your current waste reduction and recycling education programs and resources. If you are not a teacher, these questions may not be applicable to you.

28. 1. Please indicate the level of support/interest from staff in offering waste reduction and recycling education to students.

    1. Very Strong
    2. Strong
    3. Neutral
    4. Weak
    5. Very weak
    6. Unknown

30. Please provide any additional comments below.

32. 2. Does your school provide waste reduction and recycling education (e.g., curricula, lessons, activities, etc.) to students?

    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. Unknown

34. If yes, please briefly describe the types of programs provided.

36. If yes, please check all grades that receive this type of educational programming.

    1. Kindergarten
    2. 1
    3. 2
    4. 3
    5. 4
    6. 5
    7. 6
    8. 7
    9. 8
    10. 9
    11. 10
    12. 11
    13. 12
38. If yes, please rate the impact of the educational programming.

    1. 0-3 = Poor
    2. 4-6 = Average
    3. 7-10 = High

40. Please briefly explain your selection below.

42. 3. What are the main motivations to provide waste reduction and recycling education to students? Please check all that apply.

    1. The topic correlates with the benchmarks and standards for the grade level that I teach
    2. To provide students with environmental education not otherwise being provided by my school
    3. It is a topic that the school and/or staff value
    4. My school does not provide waste reduction and recycling education to students
    5. Unknown

44. Please provide any additional comments below.

46. 4. Please choose the top five resources that would be most helpful for starting or expanding waste reduction and recycling education at your school.

    1. Downloadable curricula, lessons and activities
    2. In-class presentations with hands-on activities
    3. Downloadable videos
    4. Assembly programs conducted by performers
    5. Recognition or awards program for student programs and initiatives
    6. Field trips to a landfill and/or other relevant disposal or recycling facilities
    7. Teacher workshops
    8. Poster or other competitions
    9. Examples of case studies of other school programs and initiatives
    10. Unknown

48. Please provide other examples or additional comments below.

50. 5. What is the best way to measure learning outcomes for student education? Please check all that apply.

    1. Surveys
    2. Pre and Post tests
    3. Exit Slips or other written reflections on information learned used to help students process new concepts and express their thoughts about new information.

52. Please provide additional thoughts and ideas for measuring learning outcomes below.

54. 6. What are the best ways to provide waste reduction and recycling education resources to staff? Please check all that apply.

    1. Email
    2. Newsletter
    3. Provide downloadable resources via a website
    4. US Postal Service
    5. Social Media
    6. Teacher conference or workshop

56. Please describe other ideas below.

58. 7. What do you feel are the greatest challenges toward teaching students about waste reduction and recycling? Please check all that apply.

    1. Topic does not correlate with the benchmarks and standards taught at my grade level
    2. Do not have sufficient support resources like lesson plans and activities
    3. Lack of support/interest from staff
    4. Lack of interest from students
    5. Lack of financial resources and funding
    6. Lack of recycling opportunities at school
    7. Unknown

60. Please describe other challenges below.

62. 8. Please provide any additional comments, thoughts or ideas regarding waste reduction and recycling education below.

66. WASTE AND RECYCLING COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL SECTION - The following questions will help SWACO understand your current waste reduction, recycling collection and disposal practices.

68. 9. Please list the top five materials (e.g., paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, food, electronics, etc.) that you believe make-up your building's waste stream, from greatest to least, in the box below.

70. 10. Does your building currently recycle?

    1. Yes - Please start with question 11
    2. No - Please start with question 21

74. PLEASE COMPLETE QUESTIONS 11-27 ONLY IF YOUR BUILDING CURRENTLY PARTICIPATES IN WASTE REDUCTION OR RECYCLING ACTIVITIES.

76. 11. What is the motivation for reducing waste and recycling in your building? Please check all that apply.

    1. District or school policy
    2. Certification compliance
    3. Cost reduction
    4. Financial incentives
    5. Environmental stewardship

78. Please provide any additional comments below.

80. 12. Please select the items that are currently collected for recycling or diversion from the landfill.

    1. Paper
    2. Cardboard
    3. Plastic bottles
    4. Metal cans
    5. Carton containers
    6. Glass containers
    7. Food (donation or composting)
    8. Electronics
    9. Plastic film
    10. Scrap metal
    11. Pallets
    12. Item donation
    13. Yard waste

82. Please describe other collected materials not listed.

84. 13. Please rate your current waste reduction and recycling performance.

    1. 0-3 = Poor
    2. 4-6 = Average
    3. 7-10 = High

86. Please briefly explain your selection below.

88. 14. Please estimate the percentage of your building's indoor waste bins that are accompanied by a recycling bin.

    1. 0-25%
    2. 25-50%
    3. 51-75%
    4. 76-100%

90. 15. Does your building currently track weight data with respect to your solid waste and/or recycling?

    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. Unknown

92. If yes, please describe how weight is tracked below.

94. 16. Do you believe custodial staff understand and participate in waste reduction and recycling practices at your building?

    1. Always
    2. Sometimes
    3. Rarely
    4. Never
    5. Unknown

96. 17. Do you believe administrative staff, teachers and/or students understand and participate in waste reduction and recycling practices at your building?

    1. Always
    2. Sometimes
    3. Rarely
    4. Never
    5. Unknown

98. 18. Please select the types of outreach and engagement provided to staff and students on waste reduction and recycling practices.

    1. PA announcements
    2. Signage
    3. In-school campaign
    4. Informative video
    5. Green Team
    6. Orientation
    7. Unknown

100. Please provide any additional comments below.

102. 19. Do you feel more time could be spent on providing outreach and engagement to students and staff on waste reduction and recycling practices?

     1. Yes
     2. No

104. Please provide any additional comments below.

106. 20. How do you promote your current waste reduction and recycling efforts?

     1. Newletters
     2. Website
     3. Internal communications
     4. Social media
     5. Press releases
     6. No current promotion

108. Other, please explain below.

110. 21. What is the level of support for implementing or expanding the waste reduction, diversion and recycling within your building?

     1. Very strong
     2. Strong
     3. Neutral
     4. Weak
     5. Very weak

112. Please provide any additional comments below.

114. 22. Please choose the top four most important incentives/resources that you feel would increase your building's desire to implement or expand waste diversion and recycling activities.

     1. Cost incentives
     2. Student education and resources
     3. Staff training resources
     4. Recycling resources (waste and recycling assessment, signage, etc.)
     5. Personalized consultation
     6. Recognition/Awards

116. Please provide any additional comments below.

118. 23. What are your greatest challenges to implementing or expanding waste reduction and recycling programs? Please check all that apply.

     1. Cost concerns
     2. Lack of resources
     3. Lack of understanding and training
     4. Operational/procedural concerns
     5. Lack of space
     6. Unknown

120. Please describe other challenges below.

122. 24. Which of the following list of cost incentives would help your building implement or expand a recycling program? Please check all that apply.

     1. Cost savings achieved through group purchasing (e.g., recycled-content supplies, non-hazardous cleaning supplies, etc.)
     2. Cost savings from operational efficiency
     3. Free/reduced costs on recycling equipment (e.g., recycling containers, carts, etc.)
     4. Incentives to offset costs of expanding a recycling program

124. Please provide any additional comments below.

126. 25. Which of the resources do you feel would be helpful to implement or expand recycling in your building? Please check all that apply.

     1. On-site recycling program implementation consultation assistance
     2. Having a reference for ‘Best Practices’ and/or ‘How to Implement’ waste reduction and recycling programs in buildings
     3. Waste assessment tool for measuring waste generation and materials diversion Cost benefit calculator
     4. Cost benefit calculator
     5. A monitoring form to measure the volume of solid waste and recycling in outdoor dumpsters

128. Please provide any additional comments below.

130. 26. Please choose the top four most important training resources that you feel would help start or expand your waste diversion and recycling program.

     1. Staff field trips to SWACO's landfill
     2. Staff field trips to a material recovery facility
     3. Onsite staff training
     4. Onsite implementation assistance
     5. Recycling signage
     6. Tools for staff training
     7. Waste contract negotiation training

132. Please provide any additional comments below

134. 27. Please provide any additional comments, thoughts or ideas regarding the implementation or expansion of waste reduction and recycling efforts that you have below.

136. We sincerely appreciate your participation and time spent completing this survey. We are excited to share the results with you at the Design Group meeting!

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