Reducing Community Waste
Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the workshop, students will be able to:
Understand how they can change their own habits to positively affect the environment
Identify the three R’s and understand the benefits of each
Classify everyday objects into the appropriate category: trash, compost, reduce, reuse, or recycle
Essential Questions:
How does our disposal of trash impact environmental and human health?
How can alternative disposal options benefit the environment?
How do reusable alternatives benefit communities?
Explore our resources
Click on the images to access each resource (available as a PDF or webpage)
Take-Home Guide
Information for parents & legal guardians (available in English and Spanish).
Información para padres de familia y tutores legales (disponible en Inglés y Español).
Standards Alignments
Explore the ways our program aligns with CCSS + NGSS standards.
Vocabulary
Quiz your students on vocabulary used during our lesson!
Up-Cycled Engineering
Engineering activity that challenges students to turn their waste into something new!
Social Emotional Learning
Read a true story about how one town turned its trash into an expanded school and then discuss as a class how you relate to the main character’s experience.
Video Resources
Explore relevant videos here!
Reading Resources
Continue learning by exploring relevant books, articles, and more!
FPC Reading List Picks
Read this FPC pick + complete reflection activities with your students!
Infographic
Informational image about how much pollution our waste creates.
Challenge Guide (Student)
Completing this challenge will help your school become a CiS Certified Sustainable School!
Challenge Guide (Teacher)
Facilitator tips for running the Waste Challenge in your classroom.
Lesson Reflection
Print and send home this reflection activity to show families what their student learned.
Background Information
Our country has a major waste generation and management problem. Americans create a total of 258 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) each year, with nearly two-thirds of it (169 million tons) ending up in landfills or incinerators. That is equivalent to the combined weight of 708 Empire State Buildings! In America each person produces 3.5 pounds of waste a day, with a population of 300 million people that means 18.4 billion ft. of space is occupied by trash! If this trash was put into a landfill that was 400 feet deep, it would still cover over 1,000 acres of land. Much of what is thrown away or burned can easily be recycled, composted, or re-purposed. The most important step in the waste cycle is reducing consumption of single use items. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked in America’s consumer and convenience- driven culture. The “out of sight, out of mind” concept should not be applied to waste. When garbage is put into landfills, toxic chemicals such as CFC's and BPA leach into the soil, groundwater, and drinking water. Landfills also put off dangerous gases like carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, sulfides and more. Methane is a greenhouse gas which is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. When methane gas is created and released it intensifies climate change. Additionally, when trash is burned, toxic chemicals are released into the atmosphere contributing to smog and acid rain. Ultimately, there is no safe way to dispose of trash.
As a society, it is critical we decrease the amount of waste being generated. This can be done by reducing our consumption, shifting purchases to reusable items rather than single use items, recycling, composting and buying in bulk.