Subject: Science Target Grades: 4-5 Duration: one class period Materials Movie: The Rotten Truth:3-2-1 Contact Extra 1990 Children s Television Workshop (optional) Box I: (one for whole class) Newspaper/Celotex ceiling tile & pencils Magazines (shiny)/fast-food bags, egg cartons Corrugated cardboard/cereal box, tissue products (Kleenex) Steel soup can (flattened)/new soup can Used clear glass bottle/new glass bottle #2 HDPE plastic milk jug/plastic lumber, etc. #1 PET plastic soda bottle/cloth bag Food wrapper (plastic & foil)/not recycled Styrofoam cup/plastic ruler Milk carton & juice box/envelope & (toilet) tissue products Styrofoam peanuts/reused by Shipping Store Garbage pizza: (one per group) To make the cardboard pizza: Divide into percentages: 37 % (paper & cardboard) 18 % (yard waste) 8 % (plastics) 8 % (metals) 7 % (glass) 7 % (food waste) 15 % ( other ) Make labels for the above categories; using Velcro connectors, put 1/2 on each category and the other 1/2 on each wedge of the pizza. Supermarket Safari Miscl food items for lunch box individual and large bags; canned and fresh items, paper bag and reusable bag or box. Student copies of survey, data sheet, and pre-quiz Lesson Overview Students explore what garbage is, how much we produce in the US, and learn ways to reduce the amount of garbage going into landfills. Essential Questions What is garbage? What are the major categories of garbage? How much garbage is produced in the US? What can be done to reduce the amount of garbage produced? Objectives After this lesson, students will be able to: 1. Define garbage as something that we no longer need or can use. 2. List seven major categories of garbage: paper, yard waste, plastics, food wastes, metals, glass, or other (clothing, construction/demolition waste, old appliances) 3. Understand that throwing away paper or plastic packaging, glass jars, metal cans, cardboard boxes wastes energy and resources because we have to mine the metals or oil all over again, or cut down more trees. 4. List ways to reduce the amount of garbage by recycling, repairing, reusing items, and reducing what we use in the first place. 5. Understand that food and yard wastes can be recycled by composting.
Advance Preparation Show the movie (optional). Gather the listed materials for Box I and put them inside a large plastic tub or garbage bag. Make up classroom set of garbage pizzas. Give students pre-quiz. (Post quiz after second lesson, Solutions to the Garbage Explosion) Background Americans produce 220 million tons of trash a year; about 5 lbs/person/day. Where does it go? Between 1960 and 2007, the amount per person nearly doubled from 2.7 lbs to about 5 lbs/day. Movie: The rotten truth is that we haven t solved the garbage problem, even with landfills, incineration, recycling, and reduction. In nature, decomposition occurs, but that is very slow in landfills. Landfills are filling up fast, and it s hard to find new places to put them. Incineration isn t perfect. Recycling and reduction are things we can do to help. Landfills are more complicated than a dump. They are a large hole in the ground, lined with clay or plastic. Rain produces toxic liquid by mixng with other poisons in the dump, but this is supposed to be contained by the liner. Ideally, pipes collect what seeps through, and it is treated so it doesn t get into the groundwater. Each day, garbage is covered with a layer of dirt to contain odors and deter animals. When full, the landfill is covered with plastic and dirt. Different materials decompose at different rates in a landfill, and more slowly than when in the outside. Incineration a form of garbage disposal where waste is burned at a very high temperature, producing ash and electrical energy that can be sold. (Trash ash cash) Incineration also produces waste (ash) and poisons and gases that escape to the air. A large portion of our waste is food and yard waste which can be used for compost, by adding earthworms, air, bacteria and time. This reduces the amount of waste and creates dirt. Paper can be recycled into paper. Aluminum cans are made into new cans and other aluminum products; crushed glass (sorted by color) is melted into new bottles; plastic chips are made into many things, including fiberfill, bottles, toys, rope, etc. There are seven kinds of plastic, each marked with a code on the bottom. Procedure What is Garbage and What Do You Know About It? Whole class brainstorm (Concept map) Write on board, and group in general categories, adding headings at end to sum- Why is it a problem? What is it? (descriptive) - Pollutes air, land & water Looks bad, wastes resources, etc. Solutions - recycle, don t buy, reuse, burn, Bury, etc. GARBAGE - Smelly, junk, disgusting, trash, gross, What s in it? (content) - newspaper, cans, glass, plastic, etc. marize:
Select 4 students to find out how much garbage we, the average person throws away, and have them sort through the trash, putting it into categories about 5 minutes. (Tell the students that the pile represents about two days of garbage. Have the rest of the class watch the sorters. When finished, ask the class what major groups are there, and write on the board: paper, glass, metals, yard waste, food waste, plastic, other (clothing, wood scraps). Garbage Pizza small group work. In groups of four, hand out pizzas and labels and have students arrange the categories from largest percentage to smallest representing what is thrown away. After about 5 7 minutes, poll each group as to their decision, and then show the actual division. Reuse, Repair, Reduce, Recycle whole group discussion Go back to the trash examples and generate discussion from students as to how much of the trash could be eliminated by Reuse, Repair, Reduce, Recycle. (Have students come up and select items. Discuss with class) Notice how little is left when resorted. List ways that items can be reused: Hand down clothes, or sell at yard sales Garage sales Cloth shopping bags Writing on both sides of paper Use jars, plastic food containers, bags, etc. again before discarding Repair broken appliances and furniture Reuse disposable projects Share with others Supermarket Safari REDUCING Our Garbage: Have two students pack a lunch with items. (3 minutes) Have two other students make a lunch with the idea of reducing their packaging waste to a minimum. (3 minutes) Compare and discuss: Fresh fruit vs. canned Individual chips/cookies/crackers in their own packaging vs. one giant package with reusable containers for individual lunches Individual drinks vs. reusable drink container. Paper lunch bag vs. reusable cloth or plastic bag or box Have another pair of students count the number of times a single serving bag of chips can be overlain on a large bag of chips. Note how many more servings you can get from the larger package per area of package. When trying to reduce the amount of packaging, it makes sense to buy items in a larger size. Review REDUCE: Buy products with less packaging. Avoid individual servings or small packages. Buy durable products last longer; not easily broken Soft drinks in returnable bottles Reduce disposable paper products Take a bag shopping Look for products with recyclable containers
Summary: Garbage is something we no longer need or can use. Garbage is made up of seven major categories: paper, yard waste, plastics, food wastes, metals, glass or other (clothing, construction/demolition waste, old appliances) Throwing away paper or plastic packaging, glass jars, metal cans, cardboard boxes wastes energy and resources because we have to mine the metals or oil all over again, or cut down more trees. We can reduce garbage by recycling, repairing what breaks instead of buying new, giving reusable items away, and reducing what we use. Lunches are a great place to start when reducing packaging. We can recycle food and yard wastes by composting. Extension: Garbage Survey with parents permission, put a clean bag in all of the house wastebaskets. Put food in a separate container so that trash isn t soiled. Empty the bags after one day and sort into the seven categories. Which is larger? Weigh, if possible. Use the record sheet to track. Recycling Survey interview two adults. Use the survey attached.
Solid Waste Survey Total weight of all the samples collected: Number of people in the households producing waste: Average waste produced: Total weight number of people = per day. Average per day X 7 = average weight per week. Average per day X 30 = average weight per month. Average per day X 365 = average weight per year. Bonus: How long would it take you to produce your weight in solid waste? (Use the average for the class.) NOTES: Recycling Survey Your Name Person being surveyed Do you recycle? YES NO Why or why not? If you do recycle, how often do you recycle the following materials? Material Always Most of the time Occasionally Never Newspaper Other paper Cardboard Glass Aluminum Motor Oil Plastic Optional questions for an adult, parent or grandparent: How has the amount or kinds of things thrown away changed since you were a child?
Name Date Garbage WHIZ QUIZ!! What Do You Know About Garbage?? 1. How long will it take a plastic bag to decompose: (circle one) 1 year 20 years 50 years 10,000 years 2. Which makes up the largest category of garbage by weight: (circle one) plastic paper & cardboard food metal 3. We can recycle our food and yard wastes by. 4. List 3 things you can do to reduce the amount of garbage you throw away:,,. 5. To prevent pollution of groundwater, the bottom of landfills are lined with: (Circle the one or more answers that are true.) sand clay plastic gravel 6. Newspaper can be recycled into: (Circle the one or more answers that are true.) egg cartons newspaper glass jar motor oil ceiling tile tissue pop can pencils 7. Plastic milk jugs can be recycled into: (Circle the one or more answers that are true.) flower pots newspaper toys plastic lumber pop cans glass jar cereal box magazines 8. Glass bottles can be recycled into: (Circle the one or more answers that are true.) flower pots newspaper toys cloth bags plastic lumber glass jar cereal box aluminum pop cans 9. Aluminum pop cans can be recycled into: (Circle the one or more answers that are true.) flower pots newspaper toys cloth bags plastic lumber aluminum pop cans glass jar cereal box 10. Where can people in our area take newspapers, plastic milk jugs, cardboard boxes, glass jars and magazines to be recycled? 11. Why is throwing away garbage a problem? 12. Why are landfills better than dumping garbage in the forest?