School programs

​​​​​​​Zero Waste Place Workshops

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​​​​​​​We've partnered with Elements Society to deliver environmental education programming, Zero Waste Place​​​​​​​, in classrooms.

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  About the program

  Grades K to 7

  Zero Waste Place is a free program aimed at educating students about the City’s zero waste goals. Its purpose is to increase waste literacy among young students and to foster positive, action-oriented behavioral 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
  • 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

  Learn more about the program External website, opens in new tab

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  How to register

  Teachers can register their class online External website, opens in new tab.

  Know a teacher who might be interested? Send them this flyer PDF file (162 KB) about the program.

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  What Zero Waste Place achieves in schools

  The Grade 5 class at Grandview / ¿uuqinak'uuh Elementary School was inspired to create an art installation showcasing the importance of keeping plastics out of our oceans.

  Students used only waste and recycled materials to bring awareness to the issue of ocean plastic waste and created some wonderfully inspiring art.

  For their efforts, the class was the BC Green Games Elementary School Winner of the sleepover at Science World. Read more about their full project External website, opens in new tab.

Live educational theatre shows

We've partnered with DreamRider Productions Society to deliver fun and engaging live theatre shows to inspire elementary schools to take action on zero waste and litter reduction.

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  About the program

  Grades K to 7: Zero Heroes

  Zero Heroes inspires kids to take action and change the way they think about consumption, how stuff is made, and what ends up in the landfill.

  Grades K to 2: Clean Up Your Act

  Clean Up Your Act teaches kids how litter, vandalism, and graffiti hurt our communities. Students are empowered to take positive action to protect our public spaces. 

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  How to register 

  For more information and to book a show, contact DreamRider.

Zero heroes teaching resource

We've partnered with DreamRider Productions Society to offer a fun and engaging self-paced teaching resource for elementary schools to empower students to be changemakers for zero waste.

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  About the program

  Grades 3 to 6

  The Planet Protector Academy: Zero Heroes is a digital-led teaching resource that teaches students about key zero waste concepts, and empowers them to lead measurable change in their families.  

  Interdisciplinary and curriculum-linked, the program’s six weekly self-paced modules cover food waste, organics recycling, waste-free lunches, sustainable consumption, and design thinking.

  Learn more about the program External website, opens in new tab

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  How to register

  For more information and to register, visit the Planet Protector Academy External link icon.

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  What the Zero Heroes resource achieves in schools

  As part of the program, students go home on superhero missions to apply their learning in the real world.

  Reporting from the 2021 to 2022 school year showed:

  • 76% of families wasting less food
  • 89% of kids recycling food scraps more now
  • 95% of kids littering less and putting waste in its place
  • 94% of kids pledging to repair and reuse items before recycling
  • 83% of kids pledging to be Planet Protectors from now on

  “I loved how engaged students were with the program, how their excitement watching the videos and competing in challenges transferred to the environmental issues themselves.”
  – Rand Webber, Grade 3 and 4 Teacher, Quilchena Elementary

Worm composting workshops

City Farmer is a non-profit organization that operates the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden in Kitsilano.

Since 1978, City Farmer has been teaching Vancouver residents how to grow food in the city, compost their waste and take care of their home landscape in an environmentally responsible way.

City Farmer provides composting education to adults and children.  

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  About the workshops

  City Farmer offers free worm composting workshops (“wormshops”) to grades K to 5.

  These workshops are tailored to kindergarten to grade 5 students and introduce the concept of turning food scraps into nutrient-rich compost using worms.

  Students get a fun, hands-on experience learning about the science of worms. And they get to tour the magical fairy garden!

  Learn more about wormshops External website, opens in new tab

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  How to book wormshops

  To book wormshops for your school, contact City Farmer External website, opens in new tab.