Smooth implementation of environmental education at public schools in South Africa is hindered by various factors. Consequently, teachers have been unsuccessful or have had only partial success in implementing environmental education in their classrooms to conscientise learners about the environment and the harmful impact of littering. The purpose of this research was to indicate how teachers could mitigate the hindrances to effective environmental education teaching and learning in their respective schools. By employing progressive environmental action research activities through participatory spirals of action research cycles, learners could be conscientised to littering. This research is underpinned by critical theory and an applied cooperative paradigm. Fourteen learners referred to as co-researchers or participants in this research were randomly selected from seven classes. Participants' observations were used as a research instrument to collect data. Thereafter, a coding process and analysis were conducted. The results of the study show that progressive environmental action research activities were successfully implemented in the conscientisation of learners to littering and that these interventions mitigated some of the environmental education barriers experienced by teachers at schools. This led the authors to conclude that if progressive environmental action research activities are conducted through the participatory action research approach, this can empower teachers to mitigate factors hindering environmental education implementation and subsequently raise learners' awareness of littering.