The E-Waste Programme is a specialised learning experience that gives students at Currumbin Community Special School the opportunity to become conscious citizens. It is an authentic learning experience that begins with the collection of electronic waste (E-waste) which is brought back to school for assessment.
The students retrieve spare parts of value, recycle different materials (plastic/ metal/ electrical) and renew items collected from an array of electronic goods. These include but are not limited to; computers, DVD players/ VCR/ set top boxes, Hi Fi equipment cameras, mobile phones, game consoles, game controllers and televisions.
Students are making real life connections with curriculum content as they work through these processes. Science, Mathematics and English are readily incorporated into the adaptable and purposeful recycling programme. Their technical knowledge and physical capabilities are advancing with every term whilst their knowledge about waste and recycling also improves. Students have the opportunity to tune their fine motor skills and learn to select and use a range of basic and specialist trade tools in a structured and safe environment.
The current e-waste focus is the extraction of valuable and useful components from laptop and desktop computers. By dismantling, sorting and retrieving recyclable parts of e-waste they are learning a valuable lesson in the local and global implications of waste and what they as an individual can do to make a difference. Currently the program operates as an internal work experience session for senior students. On average, we are able to save 90% of all computer products from landfill. Yet, with a more rigorous STEM and ‘Maker Space’ focus we aim to expand the program into activities and programs that design and build items of use and showcase our endeavours to local schools in our area.
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