As an external collaborator in the AWARE project we also conducted eco-workshops for children in Slovenia in order to present them e-waste and its proper handling.
In the company ZEOS, d.o.o. from Slovenia, we have been dealing with the proper management of e-waste and waste batteries for 15 years. We make sure that as much of this waste ends up in the right places. To this end, we are constantly organizing awareness events. For the start of the 2020/2021 school year, we have prepared interesting free eco workshops for primary schools. We implemented them as part of our Life E-waste governance project and AWARE project. Due to the unstable situation regarding the coronavirus, we offered schools workshops in three ways: physically at school or online (both led by our representative), and if none of these options were available, we offered schools materials with instructions for implementation of workshops. At the eco workshop, we talked about how to properly handle old appliances and waste batteries, and especially why this is important. We have processed many other contents that are an indispensable part of proper waste management.
At the end of August 2020, we sent an invitation for the workshops to approx. 50 primary schools, of which we received application forms for workshops from 12 primary schools. Since each school wanted more workshops for several classes (sometimes even 40 workshops per school) we had to make a list of implementation for the whole school year, as we only have one lecturer.
Method of conducting workshops
The workshops were mostly held in schools (as long as they were open), later when schools were closed some also online, lasting two school hours each, during the lecture the students also solved the tasks, which were then discussed with the lecturer, and students were also given homework and a questionnaire. We also agreed with one school that we just sent them the material and the workshop will be conducted by the teachers themselves (they haven’t done it yet).
This year we conducted 14 workshops and informed 336 children.
Due to distance learning, schools have become more congested from week to week, so they started to canncell online workshops in early November 2020, we have agreed to hold them at a more appropriate time, expected next year. Above all, they canceled workshops for the lower classes, which are less suitable for online work.
Experience from workshops
The workshops were positively received both in the field and online, both by our lecturer and by the students. The students were interested and loved to participate. They found the content interesting, especially the facts about rare material that appliances contain (gold, etc.). They liked comparisons to numbers and work assignments, especially younger ones. The lecturer has a lot of mileage in the field of such education, so all the performances were well done, and the lecturer was very happy to be able to offer the groups a little different content than before.
Completed homework and questionnaire from one of the students
Written by: Urša Dolinšek, ZEOS, d.o.o. (Slovenia)
ZEOS, d.o.o. is a national non-profit collective scheme for waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) in Slovenia and it also deals with waste portable batteries, accumulators and waste grave side lights.