City of Vancouver waste education and outreach

Creating a zero-waste community requires everyone living and working in the city to change the way they view and manage waste. Without raising awareness and providing education on waste-related programmes, any efforts from the city to achieve the zero-waste strategy won't be successful.

Zero Waste Place is a free programme aimed at educating students about the City’s zero waste goals. Its purpose is to increase waste literacy among young students (from kindergarten until 7th grade) and to foster positive, action-oriented behavioural change. Each class receives three workshops, plus additional activities between workshops. The interactive sessions cover topics such as: litter prevention, strategies for properly sorting items, avoiding waste, and designing and managing a project that addresses waste and litter at the community level.

During the 2018-2019 school year, over 170 workshops were delivered to 38 schools in Vancouver, reaching over 2,000 students.