Information

Week-long Workshop on Environmental Issues of Electronic Waste
Comes to Northwest Arkansas
June 14-18, 2004

Computers, cell-phones, televisions, a nearly unimaginable quantity of other video, audio, information products, and tons upon tons of other potentially toxic waste have been thrown in the trash bin and trucked to local landfills throughout the US. Northwest Arkansas’ regional landfill in Tontitown, along with other landfills in the state is no exception when it comes receiving thousands of pounds of electronic waste. According to the US EPA 2,054,800 tons of electronic wastes (‘E-Waste’) are sent to landfills each year (http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/plugin/index.htm). Much of E-waste contains significant amounts of lead, PCBs, chromium, cadmium, and mercury – often found in electronic product components. When Arkansans discard unwanted electronic products with other household garbage the toxics they contain pose a significant environmental health threat, entering the air through ash from open-burning (dioxins) and other forms of incineration or water sources through landfill leachate.

Traditional waste disposal methods in concert with rapid population growth in the area, coupled with rampant consumerism have resulted in an explosion in the amount of garbage being generated in the area. The region's only Class I Landfill known as the Waste Management Tontitown Landfill (WMTL) is projected to reach capacity within just a couple of years. Reports of the failure of a liner system and a release of leachate that violated the facility's permit prompted the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) on April 24, 2002 to close the landfill. It has become increasingly difficult to site a new Class I Landfill in the region and the existing one has the potential to cause significant environmental and health problems. Unfavorable geology in concert with improper construction, monitoring, and record keeping concerning the landfill poses a potential threat to human health and the environment. In response, the Center for Mathematics and Science Education (CMASE) located on the University of Arkansas – Fayetteville campus will be conducting the Waste Not, Want Not – Environmental Issues of E-Waste (WN 2) Institute to educate the region's science/environmental educators on solid waste disposal issues and options with particular emphasis on electronic waste.

Waste Not, Want Not – Environmental Issues of E-Waste (WN 2) is a professional development program for middle to secondary science teachers and environmental educators. The program is designed around two best practices, hands-on, standards-based, issues-oriented, inquiry-based environmental education resources for fifth through tenth grade classrooms. The primary focus of the workshop will be concerned with toxic and non-toxic waste disposal issues, particularly those associated with the manufacturing and disposal of computers and other electronic items. Special attention will also focus on the threat to water quality and disposal options and solutions.

A. Organization: The lead program coordinator, CMASE, has been involved for years with environmental education as lead state partners for G.L.O.B.E. (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) and SEPUP (Science Education for Public Understanding Program) offering summer workshops and specialized trainings for both pre-service and in-service teachers. Key partners also involved with the WN 2 program include the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Washington County Office of Environmental Affairs, City of Fayetteville -Solid Waste and Recycling Program, University of Arkansas: Departments of Environmental Health and Safety, Geo-Sciences, and Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, and HAZ-M.E.R.T. Inc. All partners will provide in-kind support in the form of hands-on training and educational material.

B. Summary: The project will encourage 5-10 th grade educators and their students to question commonly held beliefs about garbage/waste and to seek alternative, better ways of dealing with waste. The WN 2pilot initiative will engage 25 regional science teachers during an initial 5-day workshop (45 hours) with 15 hours of follow-up mentoring in issues dealing with toxic and non-toxic waste disposal. The instruction and information gained during this project will allow teachers to have a potential yearly environmental education impact on 3000-3750 students.

C. Educational Priority:Enhancement of Teaching Skills is the principal focus. Environmental education, linking earth science, chemistry and technology within the context of serious emerging regional solid waste disposal issues centered on the WMTL will also emphasize the potential public health threats of various disposal methods.

D. Delivery Method: The project will combine one day of stage setting general lectures and hands-on sessions, two days of teacher training on the University of Arkansas campus and follow-up field trips to the site of the WMLT, a sinking creek in the Savoy Watershed, the City of Fayetteville Recycling Facility, and the Washington County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center. The final day will focus on solutions with presentations by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and a representative from E-Recyclers Plus of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

E. Audience: This program will target 25 5-10 th grade science teachers with the yearly potential to impact 3000-3750 students from the region largely serviced by the WMLT, specifically Washington and Benton Counties.

F. Funding: Funding is provided by a U.S. EPA grant.

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About the Center for Mathematics and Science Education (CMASE):
CMASE is a network of centers connecting higher education to the public schools by offering training, professional development, curriculum implementation, and leadership development regionally and statewide. CMASE Centers are directly connected to institutions of higher education. CMASE coordinates annual University-sponsored outreach opportunities providing: 1) science, mathematics and technology presentations to K-16 classrooms throughout the state, 2) professional development opportunities for pre-service and in-service teachers both on and off-campus, 3) science, mathematics and technology content mentoring for K-16 students and teachers, and 4) a science, mathematics and technology outreach contact point between the institution of higher education and its surrounding community.