Waste management in Tuvalu Case Study Teacher's Notes Student Activities Becoming familiar with Tuvalu Using the Internet (or atlas and other references) develop a profile of Tuvalu's people, government, economy and environment. You should briefly include: map of Tuvalu people eg population, origin, language spoken economy eg major economic activities, currency government system environment eg characteristic features including geological, climate, native flora and fauna Prepare your profile in less than 500 words and present it as either: annotated poster Powerpoint presentation web pages for a website on the country of Tuvalu. Identifying the issue Describe the ecological issue that the Tuvalu people and its government is facing. Explain how the Government of Tuvalu is planning to address the issue. Using the Internet or other references, investigate the key concepts of waste minimisation. Describe waste minimisation as a process and its phases. Explain the hierarchy that underlies waste minimisation. Explain the difference between the terms waste minimisation and waste management. How does the Tuvalu Waste Management Project compare with the concept and process of waste minimisation? Making connections Visit the EcoRecycle Victoria website to compare Victorian attitudes towards waste and recycling with those of Tuvaluans. How and why do people change their attitudes and behaviour towards the environment? Compare Tuvalu's position and concerns about implementing the Kyoto Protocol with Australia's issues. Select one of the international treaties that Tuvalu is a signatory. Use the Internet and other references to investigate the treaty and its intentions. Summarise in less than 150 words the purpose of the treaty. Describe how the Tuvalu Waste Management Plan will support Tuvalu's obligations as a signatory to this treaty. Focusing on waste minimisation plan for solid waste Present the data in Table 3: Average household waste stream composition for Tuvalu in graphical form. If you were designing a waste minimisation plan with the Government of Tuvalu, what projects would you target? How would you suggest to implement the projects? Explain why you decided on these projects. Select two of the assessed risks identified for solid waste disposal at Funafuti. Describe and justify how you would reduce the impact of the assessed risk. Using the data provided in Table 5: Summary of the preliminary borrow pit risk assessment explain which borrow pit you would modify to use as a landfill site. Did your option differ from the consultants' recommendation? Give reasons for any difference in the final recommendations. Explain what were the final factors that assisted in the decision making for siting the landfill. Using resources such as those from the Environment Protection Authority or EcoRecycle Victoria, identify the factors that would assist in the siting of a new landfill in Victoria. Compare and contrast the processes between Tuvalu and Victoria. Reflection and action Based on your learning from the Tuvalu case study, design a waste minimisation plan for one of the other components of the Tuvalu Waste Management Project (see Table 1). Prepare a short report of the proposal to submit to the Government of Tuvalu. You should include in your report: Introduction - eg background to issue, rationale for project, outline of ecologically sustainable principles that underpin the project Project description and implementation - eg what do you propose? How does it relate to ecological sustainable development? What data will you collect to develop, monitor and evaluate the project? How will you analyse and use the data to inform your implementation of the project? Outcomes & expectations of the project Based on your learning from the Tuvalu case study, design a waste minimisation plan for a component of waste stream for your home or school. Prepare a short report of the proposal to submit to your family or the school council. You should include in your report: Introduction - eg background to issue, rationale for project, outline of ecologically sustainable principles that underpin the project Project description and implementation - eg what do you propose? How does it relate to ecological sustainable development? What data will you collect to develop, monitor and evaluate the project? How will you analyse and use the data to inform your implementation of the project? Outcomes & expectations of the project   Top © Commonwealth of Australia