The reuse of solid waste to promote environmental

La reutilización de residuos sólidos para fomentar la conciencia ambiental

Marciana Julia Pérez Paternina

Specialist in Ethics and Pedagogy, Corporación

Universitaria Iberoamericana,

mperezp3@ibero.edu.co

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0124-0850

Luis Stalin Jara Obregón

Specialist in Educational Games, Corporación

Universitaria Iberoamericana

dsuarez@ibero.edu.co

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4958-5698

Ada Luz Villadiego Navarro

Specialist in Educational Play, Corporación

Universitaria Iberoamericana

villadiegoa@ibero.edu.co

Abstract

One of the global problems that concerns education is environmental pollution, which has a negative

impact on society, regardless of whether it is a developed or underdeveloped country on the planet.

Thus, knowing that life depends on the ecosystemic world, it is urgent to formulate and implement

pedagogical strategies that guide students to respect and care for the environment, through ecological

competencies leading to the formation of environmental awareness, taking into account the following

research question: What are the benefits of reusing solid waste to raise awareness in the preservation

and environmental protection in fifth grade students of the educational institution Cuenca San Marcos,

Sucre? The main objective is to strengthen educational practices in the care and preservation of the

environment through a playful pedagogical strategy in fifth grade students of the Cuenca San Marcos

Educational Institution.

Key words: Reuse, solid waste, awareness, environment, 5Rs, pollution.

Resumen

Uno de los problemas globales que atañe a la educación es la contaminación ambiental que impacta

negativamente a la sociedad independientemente si es un país desarrollado o subdesarrollado del

planeta. Así, sabiendo que la vida depende del mundo ecosistémico, es urgente formular e implementar

estrategias pedagógicas que orienten a los estudiantes al respeto y cuidado del medio ambiente, por

medio de competencias ecológicas conducentes a la formación de la conciencia ambiental, teniendo en

mperezp3@ibero.edu.co

http://centrosuragraria.com/index.php/revista, Published by: Edwards Deming Institute,

Quito - Ecuador, July - September vol. 1. Num. 14. 2022, This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.es

Received January 01, 2022

Approved: June 12, 2022

cuenta la siguiente pregunta de investigación: ¿Qué beneficios aporta la reutilización de residuos sólidos

para concienciar en la preservación y protección ambiental en estudiantes de quinto grado de la

institución educativa Cuenca San Marcos, Sucre? Siendo el objetivo principal fortalecer las prácticas

de educación en el cuidado y preservación del medio ambiente por medio de una estrategia lúdico

pedagógica en estudiantes de quinto grado de la Institución Educativa Cuenca San marcos.

Palabras clave: Reutilización, residuos sólidos, conciencia, ambiente, 5 erres, contaminación.

Introduction

One of the global problems that has a negative impact on humanity is environmental pollution,

regardless of whether it is a developed or underdeveloped country on the planet. Thus, knowing

that life depends on the eco-systemic world, hence the need to promote educational strategies

to preserve the natural balance so that it is urgent to formulate and implement pedagogical

strategies that guide students to respect and care for the environment, through ecological

competencies leading to the formation of environmental awareness, it is here, where it becomes

necessary to pose the following research question: What benefits does the reuse of solid waste

to raise awareness in the preservation and environmental protection in fifth grade students of

the educational institution Cuenca San Marcos, Sucre?

Therefore, and to find the appropriate response through the development of this article,

which is based on the research project developed in the educational context, the general

objective is to strengthen educational practices in the care and preservation of the

environment through a playful-pedagogical strategy in fifth grade students of the

Educational Institution Cuenca San Marcos, Sucre, guided by the following specific

objectives, to diagnose the students' conceptions about the care and preservation of the

environment, in particular the 5Rs and the reuse of solid waste, to design a ludic-pedagogic

strategy to raise awareness about the preservation and care of the environment, to implement

the ludic-pedagogic strategy with the participation of fifth grade students, and to evaluate

the benefits of the ludic-pedagogic strategy with the students.

This is a situation in which the polluting problems are due in part to the poor management

of solid waste, in all places, and this is a factor that affects the life of animals in the seas,

rivers and wetlands, especially the Cuenca swamp, giving it the appearance of an open

dump, It is also a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which translates into an unfavorable

environmental impact on the health of the communities and the environment, therefore,

environmental and educational institutions should promote educational projects aimed at

the proper use of solid waste. This requires a methodological change reflected in the

environment, so that the student from basic education is aware of the acts in relation to the

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July - September vol. 1. Num. 14 2022

care and preservation of nature.

In this sense, within the context of the writing based on the development of the pedagogical

project, it is circumscribed to action research, taking a sample of 10 boys and girls of fifth

grade of elementary basic education of the Educational Institution Cuenca San Marcos,

department of Sucre. In this educational institution the management of solid waste

represents a transcendental problem, since the presence of solid waste is observed weekly

everywhere, there are few waste bins distributed in the institution, smoke is filtered by the

burning of garbage of all kinds of elements and bad odors. This directly affects the

interaction environment of the students, disturbs the health of the inhabitants and pollutes

the atmosphere, which favors the increase of global warming. On the other hand, in the

institution, there is no awareness of this problem and there is a lack of campaigns that work

to prevent the misuse of waste.

On the other hand, it is also part of the qualitative approach, which arises from the diagnosis

exhibiting problems in the management of solid waste, exclusively in plastics and papers;

in the vast majority of cases they are not classified for recycling or reuse, which is why this

research proposal is based on the knowledge and practice of the five Rs promoted by

environmental activist, writer and lecturer Bea Johnson, which is based on the "zero waste"

movement, with the 5 Rs: reject, reduce, reuse, recycle and reincorporate, all with respect

to what is not needed on the planet.

On the other hand, in the micro context of the problem, the Cuenca San Marcos Sucre

Educational Institution, located in the San Jorge subregion in the department of Sucre. It

has been evidenced a lack of education in relation to environmental care by the students

who especially in the hours of rest make a bad use of plastic waste and garbage in general.

On the other hand, the institution has a mandatory school environmental project, PRAE,

which is adjusted annually.

Little is observed about the promotion of the ecological culture evidenced in aspects such as,

the review of programs in the area of natural sciences and environmental education allows to

glimpse the correlation, continuity and sequentiality, but no transversal axes are observed for

the valuation of school environmental awareness (recycling, reuse of solid waste, care of the

swamp and wetlands); a vision in the entire curriculum programming is not observed work that

minimizes the impact of solid waste left by the community in general. Therefore, there are few

environmental projects oriented to the formation of environmental awareness in students. The

area programs still rely on traditional pedagogies, referring to strategies such as dictation,

expository technique and transcription of texts to the notebook, undervaluing playful strategies

for solid waste management in the community. At the same time, group work among the

students, in the great majority, is carried out in an unequal manner, that is, some work and the

others are figurative.

According to the background information reviewed regarding the subject of this project, it

is necessary to design and implement a strategy based on what the student likes in the infant

stage, which is the playful activity together with an environmental pedagogy for the

formulation and management of environmental pedagogical projects related to recycling

and reuse of solid waste in the Educational Institution Institución Educativa Cuenca San

Marcos Sucre.

The application of the interview as an instrument for collecting information made it possible

to learn about aspects related to the fact that inside the educational institution, specifically

at break time, there is a situation of high environmental pollution, precisely because of the

irresponsible attitude of students to misuse the solid waste left over from the food they eat

during this period of time, This does not mean that the school does not carry out actions to

avoid this, on the contrary, strategies are developed to prevent this situation from occurring,

but it is necessary to increase efforts to ensure that students do not leave any type of garbage

or solid waste in the vicinity of the school at the end of the break time.

In relation to what should be done with the solid waste generated in the homes of the

students, it is important to recognize the knowledge that they have about the attitude that

should be assumed with solid waste, since when they consider that it should be recycled,

classified and piled up to sell it, it is understood that the environment is taken care of at

home, it is given to understand that the environment is taken care of at home, but before the

way the students act in the educational institution, they denote that the existence of some

shortcomings in this aspect, which undoubtedly leads to reflect on the values that are part

of the human being to take care of the environment that surrounds him Corredor, (2016).

Therefore, it is essential to effectively lead to this reflection in the educational environment,

to be translated into facts that reflect respect for nature.

The environmental impact that can be produced by the attitude, not only of students, but of a

large part of human beings for not taking care of the environment, produces harmful effects

that affect both nature, as well as the human being himself, precisely for not giving that good

management and protection of the natural environment Gutiérrez & Sánchez (2017). Therefore,

all efforts made in the school environment to generate environmental awareness, redound

positively in all living beings that inhabit the planet earth; hence the importance of developing

research processes that seek the protection of the environment; hence the importance of the

development of this article related to the research project carried out in an educational

institution in order to generate environmental awareness, mainly in students, but also in

members of the educational community.

Regarding the theoretical component, in which two relevant topics are embroidered, in this

case, solid waste and environmental pedagogy, in relation to the first of them, For Galvis,

(2016) solid waste corresponds to any type of material that is abandoned by the person who

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produces it and that comes from various material forms such as the manufacture of products,

the transformation of the same, the use or consumption of raw material products; or because

of the cleaning that is performed and the throwing of those elements that remain as waste.

Therefore, it can be stated that these are materials that in one way or another affect the

environment in the place where they are produced without any care.

Solid waste can also be conceptualized as that organic material that can be used for various

activities, mainly in the industrial and agricultural field, in industry, taking advantage of

those materials that can be reused again for the production of raw materials, and in

agriculture as fertilizer and ingredients to make the land a more productive environment in

food production, (Tovar, 2018). Therefore, it is also considered as a highly serviceable

element when it is harnessed for the welfare of the population.

Another aspect that is important to highlight within solid waste refers to the approach of

Hernández (2021) arguing that these refer to materials, substances, objects or other types of

elements that are the result of the consumption that the individual makes of a good in the

development of various activities of a commercial, industrial, domestic, service or

institutional nature, generally placed to be collected by the sanitation service, in the different

spaces corresponding to a territory.

This concept of solid waste suggests that it refers to the collection of solid waste by a

sanitation service, hence the importance of knowing what mechanisms are in place to

prevent solid waste from being scattered in those spaces that facilitate the spread of the

negative effects that the misuse of this waste has on the population. Therefore, it is possible

to deduce the existence of a classification of solid waste.

In relation to the classification of solid waste, Galvis, (2016), considers that this

classification is carried out indistinctly, that is, there are different ways to do it, since that

is done taking into account aspects related to the origin of this waste and the disposal that

is given at the end, the use of different materials, the use, recycling and combustion to which

they are subjected, which is why they can be classified as follows: Organic (putrescible,

non-putrescible); inert; hazardous and non-hazardous; urban; agricultural; leachate.

Analyzing each classification, it is important to recognize that the knowledge acquired about

them makes it possible to carry out a better management of solid waste. With respect to

organic waste, these are considered to be those materials that are part of living beings or

transformed fossil fuels. Putrescible waste is generated by the use of natural materials that

have not been transformed, but due to the humidity they receive, they become

biodegradable, such as animal feces and food waste. On the other hand, non-putrescibles

correspond to those whose biological characteristics have been modified; these are generally

related to natural or synthetic fuels.

About environmental pedagogy, The concept of pedagogy makes reference to the

The teacher's own knowledge is constituted by the mastery of the relationships

between knowledge and teaching, by the understanding of the meaning of the

educator's activity within society and by the ability to discern the legitimate ways

of transmitting knowledge, all of which is the object of rigorous study that

transcends the proposals of common sense or of the educational rhetoric that

permanently wants to set standards of action for the school (Mission of Science and

Technology, 1990).

An important aspect of educational practice is Teaching, conceived as the set of strategies

and techniques through which the environment is organized to promote learning and the

maturation of the individual. The thematization of teaching practice has generated a body

of concepts and processes that generically receives the name "Didactics". The concept of

didactics includes the strategies that facilitate the teaching of a discipline and make learning

possible.

While environmental education is fundamentally concerned with the preservation,

protection and regeneration of the environment, pedagogy studies the incidence of the

various intentional or unintentional, natural or artificial means in which educational action

is carried out. In this context, pedagogy accepts that environmental education is education

in favor of the environment. However, environmental pedagogy can integrate three stages:

education about the environment, when it proposes the contents; education through the

environment, in relation to the methodology and education in favor of the environment when

it proposes the objectives and values to be achieved.

Such coherence contemplates the pedagogical conjunction regarding the unity of criteria,

contents, methods and objectives, which would provide a more complete formative sense

and the possibility of including environmental education in the school and in relation to the

most worrying pedagogical aspects for teachers, such as: curricular organization, teaching

methodology and didactic resources. In short, Environmental Pedagogy is a pedagogy that,

for the first time, would not have as its ultimate goal human improvement but the protection

of Nature for which man would be the mediator. As for Environmental Education, it is a

type of education characterized by: Interdisciplinarity.

Environmental education is based on several scientific disciplines that have not been

contemplated in teacher training, which is why it is necessary to form an interdisciplinary team

that analyzes the environment in an integrated manner. In this regard, Montes and Leff (1986)

state that "environmental problems demand a process of knowledge production that goes

beyond technological integration". Inescapably, the curriculum has to adjust to the

interdisciplinary approach since it demands the interrelation of multiple knowledge.

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Materials and methods

For the development of the article based on the research conducted, the socio-critical

paradigm will be taken into account. Alvarado and García (2008) quote Arnal (1992) and

say that this author "adopts the idea that critical theory is a social science that is neither

purely empirical nor only interpretative, the contributions originate "from community

studies and participant research" (p. 68). Furthermore, Alvarado and García (2008) state

that this paradigm "aims to promote social transformations by providing answers to specific

problems present within communities, but with the participation of the members" (p. 190).

This paradigm is necessary for this proposal because it seeks to transform and also requires

the commitment of the population.

This study is circumscribed within qualitative research, where "the relationship between the

researcher and the participants is one of total interdependence and it is pointed out that

research should serve to improve the living conditions of marginalized groups in society"

(Hernández-Sampieri, Fernández, & Baptista, 2014). In addition, it is framed in action

research, since it implies that the community becomes the main agent of change to achieve

the transformation of reality. According to the work of Martí, (2017) PRA has an order and

phases, namely: Contextualization stage, Conceptualization stage and Significance stage,

each of them taking into account the aspects that distinguish them.

The essential instruments for the collection of information will be subject to the following

techniques; the field diary, which according to Fernandez (2001) is the,

Set of social processes of preparation and conformation of the subject, referred

to precise purposes for a subsequent performance in the workplace. In addition,

it is the educational process that takes place in higher education institutions,

aimed at ensuring that students obtain knowledge, skills, attitudes, cultural and

ethical values, contained in a professional profile and corresponding to the

requirements for a given exercise of a profession (p. 45).

The focus group is also used, which according to Kitzinger (1995) is a form of group

interview that uses communication between researcher and participants for the purpose of

obtaining information. However, for Martínez-Miguelez (1999), the focus group "is a

collectivist research method, rather than individualistic, and focuses on the plurality and

variety of the attitudes, experiences and beliefs of the participants, and does so in a relatively

short period of time". It is pertinent to carry out a focus group in the proposal because it

favors the interaction of the participation of all the participants in the group. It is taken in a

non-parametric way, that is to say, selectively to a group of 10 boys and girls of the fifth

grade of the educational institution Cuenca who are in the stage of concrete operations, they

are characterized by being polite, they like to help with the school; most of them depend on

the agricultural and fishing activities so they have to help in these tasks with their parents,

because Cuenca has a beautiful swamp.

For this reason, the procedure began with the signing of informed consents by the parents of

the population under study and then the instruments were applied. We proceeded to carry out

the following activities: awareness campaign, build and recycle day, construction of daily

goals, construction of ecological points with PET bottles. All of these activities were carried

out in the aforementioned order. And as a whole, a note was made of what was observed in the

field diary. Then the responses were classified in the categories of analysis, in order to carry

out the interpretation. The interpretation from the hermeneutics arises from the establishment

of a set of texts, normally called canons, the data of the transcriptions will be verified and the

information of the population will be integrated, to finally generate the theories.

Result

Taking into account the revelations obtained in the development of the application of the

data collection instruments, it was possible to identify and analyze the situation manifested

around the problem addressed with respect to the reuse of solid waste and the promotion of

environmental awareness in a grade of schooling. Through the field diary and the focus

group interview, in this case with 10 fifth grade students, the results obtained are shown

through the development of three stages, in this case, diagnosis, intervention and evaluation,

which are in accordance with the objectives set.

First of all, the format of the observation of the students' behavior in relation to the conservation

and preservation of the environment during rest hours is highlighted, in order to fulfill the

objective of diagnosing the students' conceptions about the care of the environment.

With respect to the observation process carried out when the group of students was in the

break time of the classes, in order to know the conduct or behavior of the students about the

way they use solid or liquid waste from food or other elements in the break time during

class hours. In order to carry out this process, the research team conducted a follow-up and

permanent observation of the behavior of the ten students selected in the assigned sample,

this procedure allowed to know the following:

During recess time, the students consumed various food products, generally bags of chips,

potato chips, chitos, platanitos, among others, as well as soft drinks in cardboard boxes,

plastic and water bags. The attitude assumed by these students was notoriously varied,

because two of them, consciously or unconsciously, threw the residues of what they were

consuming on the floor; Four of them went to the place where the garbage containers are,

but they threw them as if they were trying to aim and some of them fell to the floor and

were not picked up again; the other four also took the residues of the food they had

consumed and deposited them correctly in the place for that purpose, that is, in the cans

provided for that purpose; however, two students spilled the leftover liquids on the floor,

causing a stain on the floor.

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Another aspect that was evidenced regarding the treatment that the students do with the

waste of what was consumed, was the way the students acted when they observed that other

students threw papers, bags, bottles and cardboard boxes, and even they themselves

manifested a lackadaisical attitude, that is, they did not react responsibly when they told

their classmates to place the garbage in the right place, and even they did not pick up the

garbage thrown on the floor.

In the institution there is only one place for the deposit of garbage and according to the norms

that exist for such purpose, that is, to place in bags of the stipulated colors to throw disposable

materials, white to deposit plastic, cardboard, paper, metal; green for the remains of food,

agricultural waste; black for napkins, papers of non-usable products; but it is not a place to

which one cannot go without any difficulty to throw the residues and wastes of the food that

they left without consuming.

A worrisome situation was evidenced at the time of carrying out the observation during the

break time of the students assigned in the sample, when they rang the bell to return to the

classrooms, because in the middle of the chaos, several children pushed the garbage cans

and one of them fell to the floor, spilling its contents, which motivated one of the teachers

to call the attention of the students to lift the can and pick up the garbage from the floor.

The attitudes demonstrated in this aspect of course, merit actions aimed at promoting

environmental awareness in students, in order to achieve a better management of solid waste

and garbage left over from the food they consume.

About the interviews conducted, each of the answers provided in the indicator related to

what the student would do to improve environmental care, denotes certain knowledge about

how to act to care for the environment, which is a good indication, but does not translate

into practice because there is poor management of solid waste remaining from the products

consumed in the educational institution. This undoubtedly becomes a reason to carry out

actions aimed at a better behavior regarding the reuse of solid waste as a way to care for and

preserve the environment.

Each of the answers provided in this indicator related to what the student would do to

improve care for the environment, denotes certain knowledge about how to act to care for

the environment, which is a good indication, but does not translate into practice because

there is poor management of solid waste left over from the products consumed at the

educational institution. This undoubtedly becomes a reason to carry out actions aimed at a

better behavior regarding the reuse of solid waste as a way to care for and preserve the

environment.

In a generalized manner and taking into account both the observation process carried out

and formulated through the field diary, as well as the focus group interviews, it is important

to make clear that there is awareness about the imperative need to care for, protect and

preserve the environment and avoid pollution, which is one of the major causes that affect

it, not only in the educational institution, but also in the places where students and the

community in general live together. Therefore, the results allow affirming and corroborating

the existence of the knowledge that students have about the danger that looms over the

planet earth by not making good use of solid waste.

However, it is perceived in the answers the existence of lack of commitment on the part of

the students, because the behavior and / or attitude that they assume in the hours of

recreational rest denotes the opposite of what they consider should be the performance with

the care of the environment, this motivated because the actions that they assume throwing

the papers, This is due to the fact that the actions they take by throwing papers, plastic

bottles and other types of waste on the floor and not in the places established for that

purpose, suggests that it is necessary to move from theory to practice, for which it is

necessary to develop strategies to ensure that this knowledge translates into favorable facts

for the environment and therefore for the human being himself. Therefore, it is necessary to

take advantage of the knowledge that students have about the relevance of caring for the

environment and the need to reuse solid waste, which can be achieved through the

promotion of environmental awareness.

According to the results obtained, several aspects that are important to analyze and propose

the development of possible strategies that contribute to the strengthening of environmental

awareness in students, but also through them to the members of the communities of which

they are an active part in their daily lives, can be clearly drawn.

There is no doubt that there are good intentions on the part of the students from a conceptual

point of view about the improvement and care of the environment, this is because they are

aware of the existing need to take actions to that effect, as Castilla & Miranda, (2019) make

clear, when considering that it is essential that from the educational institutions strategies that

motivate the entire educational community to protect nature, not only from the point of view

of natural resources, but also with respect to those solid wastes that are formed in urban

environments are promoted.

Very despite the fact that, in this aspect, students affirm that they should not throw garbage

on the floor because it causes negative effects on animals, people, etc., the attitude assumed

denotes the opposite, which undoubtedly can mean that there is a lack of environmental

culture Barinas (2016), which is generally manifested in some homes, that is, the example

that is lived at home when children observe that around them garbage is thrown on the floor

or do not manifest a care for the environment.

Inside the educational institution, specifically at break time, there is a situation of high

environmental pollution, precisely because of the irresponsible attitude of students to

misuse the solid waste left over from the food they eat during this period of time, this does

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July - September vol. 1. Num. 14 2022

not mean that the school does not carry out actions to avoid it, on the contrary, strategies

are developed to prevent this situation from occurring, but it is necessary to increase efforts

to ensure that students at the end of the break time there is no garbage or solid waste in the

surroundings of the school.