Waste Assessment Part 1
What's In Your Trash Bag?
Background
This awareness activity is a fun way to introduce students to the waste auditing process. Students will learn the amount and types of waste that they, personally, contribute to the waste stream during a typical day at school. The quantitative results of the activity will be a good introduction and motivator for students to examine the alternative actions of
Reducing,
Reusing, and
Recycling!
Goals
- To know what type of materials comprise our everyday trash
- To observe the quantity of trash produced in a day (week, month, etc.) by an individual and evaluate how to reduce this amount
- To examine how packaging is used
- To understand the concepts of reduce, reuse, and recycle
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Use addition and multiplication to calculate the quantity of trash generated each day at school
- Use multiplication and division to determine the percentage of recyclable trash at school
- Distinguish between recyclable and non-recyclable items
Materials
- 1 trash bag for each student
- 1 "zip-lock" bag for each student
- large table top or cleared floor space
- large tarp (optional)
- "What's in Your Trash Bag?" Worksheet (hint: this can be duplicated for each student or into an overhead or your blackboard and done as a class)
Procedures
- Instruct students to collect all the trash they would normally throw away at school. Ask them to start the activity when they get to school and continue until they leave. Have them bring their trash bag everywhere with them for the entire day - the cafeteria, gym, classroom, etc. Food waste can be collected in a "zip-lock" bag to avoid contaminating other waste in the trash bag.
- Have students bring their bag to class the next day and weigh it. (You can use an ordinary scale to do this by weighing yourself holding the bag, not holding the bag and subtracting the difference.)
- Record the weight of the bag on the worksheet.
- Calculate and record the total of all your classmates' trash bags.
- Using these figures, calculate and record the total trash for the entire school population. (This will be an estimate)
- Have students open their trash bags and look at what's inside. Students can do this individually, in groups or on the floor as a class.
- Separate the trash into categories of paper, food waste, plastic, aluminum, steel, glass, and other.
- Do the same thing for food waste, plastic, aluminum, steel, glass, and other.
- Using these figures, calculate and record the total weight of these items for the entire school population.
Discussion Questions
- How did the amount of trash you generated in one day compare with the amount your classmates generated? How does it compare with the estimated 4 pounds per person per day in the USA? Based on your collection today, how much waste do you generate in 1 month? 1 year? 10 years? How many tons is this? (1 ton = 2000 lbs.)
- What trash items did you and your classmates generate the most of?
- How much of the waste is packaging?
- What are some alternatives to this kind of packaging?
- What kinds of resources were used to make these items? (wood/trees, petroleum, metal ore, etc.)
- How can you reduce the amount of trash you produce each day?
- Which of the items can be Reduced? Reused? Recycled?
- Bonus* Based on the class total for paper waste, estimate the percent by which waste could be reduced if students would recycle all of their school paper? All other recyclables?
Quantified Results
| Weight of your trash bag |
__________ |
| |
| Your bag x _____ in group = Group Total |
__________ |
| |
| Group Total |
| _____ in group = Student Average |
__________ |
| |
| Group Totals For: |
| Paper Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Food Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Aluminum Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Steel Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Glass Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Other Waste |
__________ |
| |
| School Totals For: |
| Paper Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Food Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Aluminum Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Steel Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Glass Waste |
__________ |
| |
| Other Waste |
__________ |
Go to part 2 of the waste assessment.
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The following document lists the recycling services available throughout the State of Missouri; it is maintained by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.