An education initiative addressing the global e-waste crisis has launched ahead of International E-Waste Day (14 October) and National Recycling Week (13 – 19 November), empowering schools to teach students about circular economy.
The education resource allows teachers to work with their students to develop an understanding of consumption patterns and their impacts through access to exclusive interviews featuring global experts and businesses.
The open-source online education resource, Closing The E-Loop, has been developed by Comsol, an Australian based electronics manufacturer, importer and distributor, in partnership with Cool.org (formerly Cool Australia), an ed-tech organisation with over more than 200,000 educator members accessing its site.
Closing The E-Loop won the Green Impact Award from the World Business Forum, announced in Sydney on 11 October.
Mr Tim de Ridder, head of social and environmental sustainability at Comsol, said the Closing The E-Loop content includes teacher lesson plans and material targeted at the year 9 and 10 curriculum.
“Closing The E-Loop is a first-of-its-kind resource that has made complex topics such as the life cycle of electronic products and the circular economy accessible and understandable for all,” he said.
“These resources help to address the e-waste crisis and provide a catalyst for change in a fun, engaging, interactive and informative fashion.”
Closing The E-Loop provides three core learning intentions:
- identify the global e-waste crisis;
- understand the social and environmental impacts of e-waste; and
- investigate solutions to the e-waste crisis.
“In addition, we have created a first-of-its-kind portfolio, our Sustainable Electronics Solutions video showcase, that is a collaboration with 38 industry experts sharing knowledge about solutions to the e-waste crisis. These interview videos are relevant to high schoolers, university students and adults alike, enabling change at work, home and school,” de Ridder said.
Ten lessons have been designed and created for a student group that can learn about the crisis and drive change in their own lives.
Popular lessons include ‘The Global Lifecycle of an Electronic Product’, ‘Become a Changemaker for Sustainable Electronic Solutions’ and ‘Utilising the Rs of Sustainability in Designing’.
Information packs enable extra learning for students and teachers who want/need additional content to understand the issues and solutions to the global e-waste crisis.
View the Sustainable Electronics Solutions video showcase.
