Canberra teacher Debbie McNeill writes book to teach students about waste

Emmaus Christian School year 5 and relief teacher Debbie McNeill was spurred into action by the ABC's War on Waste series and began teaching a unit about the impact of human waste on the environment.

She found children cared a lot about environmental problems but would often leave their food wrappers lying around the playground.

"It's just too easy to throw something out the window or too easy just to get up and walk away and say, 'It doesn't matter. Someone else will clean that up'," Mrs McNeill said.

"Well, someone else is us."

The educator first wrote a story for her year 5 class to act out at a school assembly based on a character named Derek Hopperstink. She then went on to hire illustrator Bridget Acreman to bring her self-published work to life.

The book follows Derek the ibis who has a nasty experience when he eats rubbish left around by humans. Derek dons a cape and decides he will be a waste warrior.

He goes to tell his kookaburra friends about the unpleasant encounter. They help to spread the message to all of the other fish, reptiles, birds and mammals about humans leaving their rubbish in their habitats.

Derek's name is a play on current principal Erik Hofsink's name, with his enthusiastic consent. The other characters in the book are named after other staff members at the school.

Mrs McNeill never saw herself becoming an author but having the book sent off to the printer on Monday felt like a dream come true.

"I wouldn't say my writing has always been something that I pride myself in. But as I'm getting older, I do I want to do something while I can. It's important for me to make a difference," she said.

READ MORE:

The book includes notes for teachers on how they could lead a discussion after reading the book with different age groups, including talking about the elements of language for a literacy lesson.

Mrs McNeill is planning to visit Canberra schools during book week in August to spread the message further.

After hearing Derek's tale, a group of kindergarten students took it upon themselves to collect rubbish from the school grounds.

"They came up to me and said, 'I was a waste warrior today' and they were consciously looking for waste to put in the bin, which is amazing. So they wanted to be superheroes like Derek it was definitely captured their enthusiasm.

"I was over the moon to hear that they were actually doing it, not just reading a nice little story. It actually pushed them into action from kindergarten."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here