Overview
In this unit, you will focus on management of municipal and household waste streams. You will learn about product lifecycles, from design through end of use, and the related environmental impacts, including the conduct of waste audits. Specific lifecycle studies might focus on council or local government recycling initiatives, or composting at a household, community, or industrial scale. You will explore how social innovation initiatives such as makers spaces, men's and women's sheds and other similar enterprises keep materials in use longer while also benefitting social capital.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Undergraduate Courses: Completion of 72 credit points. Postgraduate Courses: nil prerequisites.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2027
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Academic Progression Policy and Procedure
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from In-class student feedback
Students responded positively to the personal waste audit assessment, noting its relevance to their everyday lives and practical application of unit concepts.
Retain the personal waste audit assessment and further enhance reflective learning activities that enable students to connect their findings with broader waste management and sustainability issues.
Feedback from Lecturer reflection
Lecturer reflection identified that the 10-minute oral defence timeframe within the waste audit assessment was insufficient for students to fully discuss their findings and application of unit concepts, despite generally strong performance.
Increase the oral defence duration to a minimum of 15 minutes to support more detailed student responses and a more comprehensive evaluation of learning outcomes.
Feedback from Lecturer reflection
Students were exposed to social innovation concepts through tutorials and some assessment activities. Greater emphasis on this topic within the unit would further support students in evaluating socially innovative waste management solutions.
Include social innovation as a standalone weekly topic and explore opportunities for guest presentations from the Social Impact Lab to provide authentic examples of social innovation in practice.