Project “Kreislaufschule” (Circular School) has started! Together with the initiatives Zero Waste Your Life and Mifactori  Circular Berlin has been granted the funding from the Berliner Projektfonds kulturelle Bildung  to run a yearlong pilot program on circular practices with an elementary school in Berlin-Karlshorst.

So far, we have conducted workshops exploring how to close the school’s loops in the context of energy, water, transportation, plastics, reuse, and food. Before the end of the school year in summer 2020, we’ll have also covered heat, textiles, glass, paper, organic matter, biosphere, repairing, and sharing.

When working with the children, we combine traditional instruction with interactive and creative exercises, practical experiments, and media education. Here are just a few of the activities we’ve done so far

• Water: The children mapped all water sources in their school, thought about ways to preserve water, and learned how to build their own water filter by reusing plastic bottles and natural materials. 
• Transportation: The class conducted a survey of their fellow students, visually processed the data and created a campaign website to inform students, teachers and parents about more sustainable means of transportation to and from school. 
• Energy: The students learned about different energy sources and providers, eventually organising a fun mini-demonstration in front of their head master’s office, demanding her to figure out how to change the school’s energy provider to a more sustainable one. 
• Reuse: The students participated in a repair café, upcycled “old” items and participated in a competition for the most creative upcycling ideas.

By evaluating the ecological footprint and efficiency of numerous resource streams at the school in order to optimize them and closing loops wherever it is possible, Kreativgrundschule Karlshorst is step by step becoming a circular school.

Thanks to the Berliner Projektfonds kulturelle Bildung for funding this project!