Tomoyuki Adachi: Aiming for a Waste-Free School

I wonder how long the era of disposable goods will continue. This year marks my sixth year teaching the elective class "SDGs no Susume" for third-year students at Chutobu Junior High School. As I think about the circular economy with my students, I feel that the end of that era is approaching. Let's use resources for as long as possible. And instead of discarding them immediately after use, let's try to reuse or recycle them. With these ideas in mind, we have collaborated with companies active in SDGs to work on upcycling and recycling. While we challenge ourselves daily to become the "world's most waste-free school," looking around the school, there are surprisingly many lost items with unknown owners. However, even those become important teaching materials.

Take plastic umbrellas, for example. They are convenient and easy to purchase, but disassembling them into vinyl, plastic handles, and metal frames is troublesome, so they are often disposed of in landfills. Since 80 million are thrown away annually in Japan, I wanted to do something about it. Therefore, in class, we removed and collected the vinyl parts and asked an upcycling brand to make notebook covers based on the students' ideas.

Next is stationery. We collected used plastic stationery and had a manufacturer that recycles resources conduct a workshop. We experienced the task of disassembling pens and separating them by resin material, and we also assembled fountain pens. A fountain pen, which can be used continuously by refilling the ink, might be the ultimate eco-friendly writing instrument.

Then there are water bottles. Those made of single materials, with plastic lids and stainless steel bodies, are easy to recycle. The collection of water bottles that started at Chutobu Junior High School now gathers from other affiliated schools and university campuses. We sell water bottles featuring illustrations designed by students and donate a portion of the proceeds to environmental organizations.

And a new project we are working on is the standard school uniform. We collect uniforms that no longer fit or were donated by graduates, return them to fibers, and will introduce "circular uniforms" reborn from yarn back into uniforms starting in the 2028 academic year.

Now, what can we recycle next? The ultimate goal is a waste-free school. It would be interesting if the entire Juku became a "Zero-Waste Campus" in the near future.

Social Studies Department / Keio Chutobu Junior High School / Specialist in Human Geography

Translated by Roberto Carlos Luna

I wonder how long our era of disposable goods will continue. This year marks my sixth year teaching the 3rd-year elective class “An Encouragement of SDGs” to students at Chutobu, and as I discuss concepts like circular economics with my students, I often feel like this era is in fact coming to an end. Based in the notions of using resources as long as possible and reusing resources rather than disposing them, we have worked to partner with companies with advanced SDGs implementation in an effort to promote recycling and upcycling. Yet although we have been aiming to become “The World’s Most Waste-free School”, I have noticed one surprisingly large source of material waste: our school’s lost and found. These items, too, can prove to be valuable resources.

For example, take plastic umbrellas. Although we often buy them out of convenience and for a cheap price, they often end up in landfills due to the difficulty of disassembling their vinyl, plastic, and metal components. The fact that some 80,000,000 umbrellas are thrown away in Japan every year emphasizes the need for a solution to the umbrella waste problem. In our SDGs class, we collected the vinyl sections of umbrellas and cooperated with an upcycle company to recreate the umbrella waste into something based on students’ ideas: notebook covers.

Another example is stationery. In our class, we collected used plastic stationery and had a workshop with a recycling company. We worked to disassemble pens and organize them into their different resin materials to create new stationery. We also participated in a workshop in which we assembled fountain pens. The fountain pen may in fact be the ultimate eco-friendly writing device thanks to its ability to continually replenished with ink.

Next, take the case of water bottles. Since the lids are made of plastic while the main bodies are made of stainless steel, these single materials make them relatively easy to recycle. While we first started collected water bottles at Chutobu, we have expanded to collect bottles from other Keio affiliated schools and Keio University campuses. We have been making and selling new water bottles made with recycled materials with artistic designs by Chutobu students, with a portion of our profits being donated to organizations working to help the environment.

Finally, our new challenge is school uniforms. After collecting old uniforms from graduated students, or those that no longer fit, we have broken them down into their basic fibers and created new uniforms which include recycled fibers. Students will begin using these new uniforms from the 2028 school year.

Looking forward, I wonder what we will be able to work to recycle next. Our goal is to create a waste-free school. How interesting it would be if all Keio campuses were able to achieve zero waste.