Waste education programmes, such as the Littler Less Campaign (LLC), are environmental and sustainability education (ESE) programmes which aim to increase the understanding of one’s impact on the environment and the impact of the environment on society. The LLC aims to increase waste literacy, which is a measure of a person’s understanding of waste pathways and the effects of anthropogenic waste on the environment. Waste literacy plays an important role in the field of industrial ecology as it has demonstrable effects on whether individuals are willing and able to participate in environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs). Previous studies have shown that it is necessary to increase the public’s understanding and awareness of environmental issues, and primary education is a critical time for shaping ERBs.

This thesis uses mixed methods to analyse how the LLC affects aspects of waste literacy and how teachers and national operators perceive the LLC’s effects. Multivariate data analysis is used to analyse LLC students’ knowledge of waste and attitudes towards waste and the factors affecting the LLC’s impact. The results show that the LLC has a significant effect on the students’ attitude toward waste and knowledge of waste in Northern Ireland and Russia, but not in Ireland. Gender and age did not affect LLC students’ scores, but female control students had higher knowledge and attitude scores compared to male control students while younger control students had higher attitude scores compared to older control students, suggesting that the LLC decreases the effect of background factors on waste literacy. The perceptions of teachers and National Operators (NOs) were analysed using thematic analysis and results showed both teachers and NOs thought the LLC had a positive impact on students overall and that student involvement determined the effectiveness of the LLC. Participatory teaching methods, specifically fieldwork and student ownership, were found to play a significant role in the LLC’s efficacy.

Keywords: waste literacy, multivariate data analysis, thematic analysis, participatory methods.

The heating transition goals of the Netherlands are ambitious. To reach the goal of an 80% reduction of CO2 emission by 2050, the total residential heat consumption would need to be drastically cut down. The Dutch government is leaning towards implementing large-scale heating networks and reusing waste heat from non-renewable industry. However, doubts exist whether or not that is the most viable solution. Other research lacks an overlapping approach to the modelling of a complex problem like the heating transition. The aim of this paper is to make a GIS-based framework to develop scenarios for the heating transition in cities and evaluate the implementation of different combinations of technologies to reach the Dutch climate goals. This analysis focusses on residential buildings because there is an ongoing discussion who is going to pay for the investment necessary to achieve the heating transition for this type of building. The case study of this paper focusses on the Merenwijk in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands

The technologies covered in this paper are heat pumps, low temperature heating networks and high temperature heating networks. These technologies are evaluated on their technical, financial and environmental aspects to determine their impact. Next to these impacts the trade-offs of implementing these technologies are evaluated and which impact these could have on the stakeholders involved. Three scenarios were made to cover a few combinations of these technologies: 1) a scenario based on the warmtevisie from Leiden utilizing heat pumps and low temperature heating networks; 2) a scenario utilizing only heat pumps; and 3) a scenario implementing low and high temperature heating networks for the whole neighbourhood. 
All technologies have specific characteristics which should be considered before implementing on a large scale. Financial assistance from the municipality or the government is needed for the home owners in order to achieve the heating transition within 32 years. The energy sources used by the heating technologies will be crucial for reaching the climate goals. At some point the Dutch government has to choose between a quick wins solution by reusing waste heat from the harbour of Rotterdam, or to implement a long term sustainable energy transition with heat pumps and low temperature heating networks. This paper provides an overview of the three mentioned heating technologies to be implemented during the heating transition as an alternative to natural gas. Moreover, it will hopefully invoke some debate about the Dutch government’s heating transition agenda.