Education and Events

Below are details regarding our education offerings for schools as well as community groups. We look forward to engaging with residents regarding our curbside waste collection programs and services!

Additional resources like brochures, posters, videos and a virtual tour of our site, can be found on our Publication and Resources page.

School/class presentations, onsite bus tours and online resources

We’ve got options to engage students!

Online presentations

Audience:

  • September to June: Kindergarten to secondary/post-secondary grades are welcome to book online presentations.

Book your Curbside Chat with a Region of Waterloo waste representative. Topics vary including drag and drop sorting, recyclables on the move, green bin to compost and landfill construction. Presentations take place online on the platform of your choice and are approximately one hour in length which includes a question and answer period.

Onsite tours

Audience: 

  • September to May: Grades 3 to secondary/post-secondary are welcome to book tours onsite.
  • June: Kindergarten to Grade 2 are welcome to book tours onsite.

Cost: Free for both options

Transportation: Schools arrange for a school bus rental and cover the cost of that themselves.

1. Onsite bus tour

School bus tours experience the viewing deck inside the materials recycling centre and then explore the property at our Waterloo landfill. The tour is approximately one hour and includes seeing the tipping face, new construction cell area as well as the green bin and yard waste drop-off areas.

Time duration: 1 hour

2. Onsite bus tour with education centre option

Same bus tour experience as outlined in #1 above, however this tour includes a stop inside our education centre where students get to complete four activities in each of our display rooms.

Time duration: 1.5 hours

Email us to book your online presentation or onsite bus tour.

 

Activity sheets:

  • The Rs Reverse Pyramid: Discover what we should do more of when it comes to diverting waste away from the landfill.
  • Green Bin Lifecycle: Travel with your food organics from leaving the farm to becoming compost.
  • Fill in the blanks* – A landfill is more than just a hole in the ground. Discover the different parts of an engineered landfill cell. 
  • Bingo - Complete a row or column on our Bingo Card. Can you complete the whole card?
  • Drag and drop* – Are you a super waste sorter? Show your classmates how it’s done!
  • Ideas of inspiration – Use waste management themes in other subject areas of your lesson plans.

*For a clickable PowerPoint file format or if you have questions regarding our online resources, send us an email request.

Virtual classrooms: Use picture clues to navigate through the various rooms.

Community presentations and workshops

Whether online or in person presentations/workshops focus on the Region of Waterloo's residential curbside waste programs and services including: why sorting is so important, tips for sorting correctly, what happens at the recycling centre and how the landfill works.

Duration: Approximately one hour including a question and answer period.

Timing: Presentations/workshops are preferably delivered during the day, Monday to Friday. Requests for evening or weekend hours will be reviewed and may be possible pending staffing availability and approval.

Number of participants: A minimum of 15 people in attendance.

Cost:  No cost.

Email us to book your waste management engagement opportunity!

Public Tour Day

Public Tour Day is held twice a year in April and October and tie in nicely with Earth Day and Waste Reduction Week Canada.

What: Welcome to our Operations and Maintenance property where you can tour the Waterloo landfill, see heavy equipment up close and chat with waste management staff.
When: April and October
Bus tours: 9-11:30 a.m. School buses run every half hour enabling residents to view the tipping face, new cell construction, green bin and yard waste drop-off areas as well as accessing the viewing deck of the materials recycling centre. Tours are 50 minutes in length.
Registration: Registration is required.
Where: 1516 Glasgow Street, Kitchener
Cost: Free, fun family event!

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