• all people create waste
• waste can be managed in different ways
• waste has environmental, social, health and economic impacts.
• all people must take responsibility for their waste
• local tourism cannot flourish if the immediate environment is neglected

The following suggestions will help the teachers to introduce the main ideas surrounding the tourism and environmental issues in black rural townships.

Inform the students the previous day to each bring an example of household waste to school. Do not tell them what it is going to be used for.

As a "warm up" exercise the next day, ask each individual student to introduce his example of waste and tell the class how waste is managed in their households. Brainstorm with the students the idea that all people create waste and that all waste has to go somewhere. List all the ideas on a flipchart for later use. Follow this discussion with open questions about how waste can be managed by different cultures and communities and how the lack of environmental responsibility towards waste management can have a negative impact on tourism in a community.

Introduce the case study and establish what the student already knows about South Africa - location, place names, history , culture etc. Locate the region on a wall map, globe or atlas and direct students to note the size of South Africa compare to other African countries and distances from e.g. Europe, North America, South America Asia and Australia.

• …the teacher brings five empty plastic five litre containers to school

The following activities will allow students to clarify knowledge and under-standing of the main issues contained in the case study.

After studying the materials provided in the case study, each student has …

• shared the main issues in the case study with a partner
• written a letter from a local perspective to a relative overseas telling him about household waste issues in their communities. Students should identify at least three major issues. Circulate letters amongst the class for comment.
• drawn and written a comic strip which shows the negative attitude of the Kuyasa residents towards waste management.
• recorded an interview with a "tourist" in the Kuyasa township about the waste problem, using a portable cassette recorder.
• written a newspaper report for the school journal about the RUBBISH BIN COMPETITION launched by the Travel and Tourism students from the local township high school.
• collected pictures, books, objects, artefacts, newspaper clippings or posters for the group for use during group activities.

The following case study activities will provide student with detailed information to support their group reports. These tasks may be carried out in pairs or sub-groups with the outcomes contributing to the final report. Students will need to plan the activities and allocate tasks.

• compile a list of the different types of household waste commonly found in the streets and around the houses in the Kuyasa township
• list the main differences between waste management in the traditional Kuyasa township and in the town of Colesberg. Explain why these differences may occur.
• using an "action and reaction wheel", map the environmental impacts of irresponsible waste dumping by Kuyasa residents and the effect it has on local tourism.
• read, and thereafter evaluate the action plans of the Travel and Tourism students from the local township high school.
• design a poster which will be displayed in the Kuyasa township highlighting the need to clean up the township and to become environmentally responsible.
• list the benefits of re-using all types of plastic containers and plastic shopping bags and suggest alternatives for plastic shopping bags.
• identify two major reasons why the local authority of Colesberg finds it difficult to clean up the Kuyasa township. Suggest possible solutions to their problems.
• suggest and describe a possible cleaning up operation in the Kuyasa township and provide a skeleton of how you intent tackling the problem.
• design a publicity brochure which will encourage tourists to visit the (now clean) Kuyasa township.

Students have to prepare a report that highlights the main issues, solutions and actions in the case study. Present the report in a variety of ways such as:

• creating a wall display with verbal explanations.
• organising a discussion panel with each member giving a different viewpoint, e.g., a waste collector working for the local authority, a resident from the Kuyasa township, a resident from Colesberg town, a representative from the local Tourism Forum, a guest house owner etc. to speak about household waste disposal problems and its effect on the local tourism industry. The class then questions the panel .
• giving an eye witness account as per a television documentary.
• writing a series of news articles

Encourage creativity and diversity with students assisting in the planning of this process.

Allow student adequate time to prepare and present the case study reports. Assign a date and time for each group to work towards. Stagger the presentations so that they do not take place on the same day, because students will need time to discuss and reflect on their processes.

At the conclusion of the reports the students have to discuss:

• major impacts of waste on a rural township and its effects on the tourism industry in the community.
• the difficulties of managing household waste in black townships in rural South Africa.
• solutions that could be shared.

Compile a list based on class findings. The list should contain references to outside influences, change over time, differing values between traditional and modern lifestyles.

To conclude the case study activities, the class can organise a "Tourism and Environment" – Conference conducted as a role play. The Conference will provide a forum where waste issues and its impact on local tourism are discussed and solutions are put forward. To facilitate solutions, run a brief "Imagine,,," – activity (see teaching strategies) for the whole class.

The class will need to:

• form a committee to organise the conference
• elect a chairperson to run the conference
• choose a time keeper
• select two people to record the Conference proceedings
• select a small group to prepare a short report on the Conference
• choose two delegates from each group to present issues
• be briefed on their roles as observers and participants

Assign the ten delegate roles e.g.:

• waste management officer
• health inspector
• township leader
• environmental officer
• youth representative Travel and Tourism department local township school
• representative from recycling company
• guest house / tavern owner
• representative from tax payer’s association of Colesberg town.

Check that there is a good balance of roles. Students van also choose roles to play as observers. After each delegate has spoken (three minutes limit) about main issues in their community, allow the observers and participants to ask further questions and put forward solutions. Limit speaking time to one minute per person. At the conclusion of the Conference the chairperson can take recommendations from the floor and thank speakers for their contributions. The report on this conference should be circulated and displayed for all to read. At the end of this process, allow student time for discussion and reflection.

The following activities will allow students to compare and contrast household waste issues within their own communities to those presented in the case study. They provide a link into students’ personal and community attitudes, values and behaviours towards household waste.

Explore the following key ideas from the case study including the social environmental and economic aspects:

• the impact of waste on rural environments
• that many non-biodegradable and non-recyclable household items create waste problems in small rural communities.
• the difficulties of recycling
• there is a need for new and innovative waste disposal methods
• solutions can be shared to create change

Review what student have learned about the issues and go on to identify and list the possible solutions. The solutions could include:

• a total ban on the use of plastic shopping bags and plastic containers
• an alternative for plastic shopping bags
• teaching communities how to compost organic waste
• sharing information and resources between communities
• having bigger and more frequent household waste awareness campaigns
• banning the dumping or disposal of household waste outside of rubbish dumps
• fining people for littering

Discuss these and other possible solutions with the students. Divide the class into new groups and give each group one of the possible solutions to explore and present. Ask students to consider the implications of their particular solution by asking the following:

• what might happen if this solution was acted upon?
• what are the advantages and disadvantages?
• how would this improve or change the environment?
• is it the best use of community money, time and resources?
• who will pay for it?
• what benefits are there for the community?
• is the solution fair to all concerned?
• what are the short and long term benefits?

Invite groups to present and justify their solutions to the class as a brief report or action plan.

Students will review waste management in their own communities and localities from a similar perspective as in the case study; geographic location, distances from waste disposal sites, lifestyle etc.

Ask student to identify how waste is managed in their own community. They may work in pairs or in small groups to investigate the following:

• How is the waste collected – bins? What size?
• How often is it collected?
• Does the community have a recycling programme in place?
• How does this work – what and how is material sorted?
• Who collects the waste?
• Who pays for the service?
• How much does it cost?
• Where does the unsorted waste go?
• Where do the recycled items go?
• Where do you find out about waste collections?
• Does your local authority collect garden and other waste?
• What happens to unused chemicals, medicine, paint tins, used oil etc.?
• What is the community / local authority doing to reduce waste? (campaigns etc.)

Student will identify a waste stream and begin to understand the idea of waste life cycles.

Conduct an audit of your household or school waste for two weeks. List and categorise items into materials e.g. steel, aluminium, glass, paper, food waste, etc. Take special care when handling waste. Wear protective clothing to reduce risk of injury or contact with potentially dangerous waste such as food scraps. Make a bar graph to show amounts of each category. Draw up an action plan to reduce some of this waste by using alternatives that can be re-used, refilled or recycled. A good place is to start is at the school tuck shop.

Umso Secondary School which also had a similar problem, used the following activity to establish the extend of household waste in the immediate surroundings of the school and community.

The students had to:

• pick an area in the local environment that attracts rubbish
• go there and write down all the different rubbish they could find
• every day for one week, pick up the non-biodegradable rubbish and bring it back to school
• identify where it came from in the first place
• find out what is it made of
• think what happens to this rubbish – will it rot, rust or pollute?
• think what they can do with it
• decide what should happen to it.
• identify the possible culprit (who might have dropped it?)
• think about their behaviour
• think how to stop people dumping waste in this place
• identify who should be notified about the dumping of waste

They came to the conclusion that the residents of the community showed no interest in cleaning up their environment and keeping it clean.

This action plan was used to clean up the Kuyasa township in Colesberg, Northern Cape Province, South Africa to clean up a rural township in order to promote cultural tourism. This was a joint effort by the Tourism students of the local townships’ school, the local authority, the residence of the township, people from the adjacent white community, local farmers and a large local sheep abattoir.

Their solution in short:

Through the use of posters and a megaphone, local residence of the Kuyasa township are encouraged to collect and bring bags of rubbish to the school premises, where the rubbish and litter will be sorted by the high school student for recycling. In return for the collection of rubbish, the local residence will receive sheepskins. Thorough training will be supplied, which will enable residents to manufacture unique, usable sheepskin products and artefacts which will be sold to tourists, thus generating sustainable income for the community. The local authority will supply a venue next to the national road where local residents can the sell their sheepskin artefacts to tourist.

• visit a local dumping site, recycling factory etc.
• invite local environmental officers or activists, council officers, industry reps. to speak to the students and provide information on local waste issues including environmental impacts such as those from old dump sites.

This exercise is an extension of the "action and reaction" – wheel. Student design and create a map-mural that tracks community waste from beginning to end. Include all aspects of the waste stream from large items such as cars and appliances, chemicals. food, building material, paper, etc.

Map from the origin of the material (mining /forestry etc.) to its final resting or recycling place. The results should be of great interest to your community. Organise for the mural to be displayed in the local library.

• Investigate how waste was managed in your community in the past.

Use libraries, museums and experts. Interview a selection of older people.

Construct a timeline that shows dates where an event or change has taken

place e.g. the introduction of plastic bags, milk cartons etc.

• Investigate what changes have influenced the types of waste now generated in your community
• Design logos, graphics, slogans for a range of items that would help to promote waste reduction such as cloth bags, T-shirts, rubbish bins that would encourage proper waste disposal, signs on buses or public places. If possible students should make prototypes, models or actual items.
• "Imagine…" (see teaching strategies) Imagine what would happen if all the waste you, your family, class, school or community generated had to stay in your own backyard, school grounds or in a community park? What would be the likely outcomes? This could be interpreted through paintings, poems, songs or stories.
• If you were to make a time capsule that enabled people in the future to understand today’s waste issues, which twenty common waste items would you include? Add newspaper articles, posters and other waste related information to provide background detail.