Eric Truong

Objectives:

 

1. Students will understand why recycling is necessary

2. Student will understand the benefits of both multi-stream recycling and single-stream recycling

3. Students will determine which program is the better approach to more efficient recycling

 

Lesson:

 

1. Pictures of polluted environments (oceans, lakes, fields, landfills, etc.) HOOK  -2min

• Students see the effect of pollution to the environment

• Have understanding of why we must recycle

• How do you recycle?

  • SURVEY OF WHO ACTUALLY RECYCLES

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zmfn5yt2oA

 

Q: What do you think we can do to prevent this?

 

      B)  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (Introduction)  -4 min

Reduce: If we reduce resources, there will be less resource waste that is even out there to be thrown away as waste

• • Example: if we reduce how much oil we use, we can lower the chance that it will be extracted from the earth again (carpooling reduces oil and gas emissions)

Reuse: when we reuse materials, we are giving many of the things that would be thrown away a second life, no pollution at all whereas recycling has light pollution

• Example:  if we reuse the paper we use, we won’t have to cut down as many trees (reuse your paper, do not just write on it once and throw it away)

        Recycle: when it is finally time to throw something away, recycling makes sure that the materials used to make it are used again

• Example: If we recycle, we can limit the used resources from getting to the landfills. Old, used waste can be recycled into another item. (recycled plastic orange juice bottle can become a playground at a elementary school)

ASK: Out of all of these, which requires the most processing?

 

We can see that recycling requires the most processing of the three.

 

      

 

C)  Grouping items (Activity)  -5min

• Students will receive items which they will have to sort into the correct classifications as a class (pencil, paper, highlighter, candy) ALL IN ONE BROWN BAG

*Relates to Multi-stream recycling*

• Students will then put all items together in one box

        *relates to Single-Stream recycling

ASK: Which system did you like better?

 

This will help students understand the difference between single-stream and multi-stream recycling

 

      D) Benefits of Multi-Stream Recycling (Lakhan) (Lecture) -3min

 

• Material is already sorted

• Less work for Material Recovery facilities (MRFs)

• fewer investments in processing technology, cheaper

• Lower levels of recycling contamination resulting in higher commodity prices

• reduced levels of household participation (as a result of households having to take additional time to source separate recyclables into their respective streams)

• Price of processing cost 10% lower on average when compared to SSR

• 8x more yield gained for paper fibers collected curbside than when compared to SSR

• 10% higher plastic yield than single-stream MRFs

 

Multi-stream collection is generally seen as having much lower levels of contamination and requiring fewer capital investments at the MRF to sort material

 

      

      E) Benefits of Single-Stream Recycling (Lakhan) (Lecture) -3min

 

• collection costs are reduced, as collection vehicles only have to pick up one container per pickup, reducing stop times

• Increase recycling convenience for households

• recycling is a system in which a household (or waste generator) places recyclables in a single commingled container

• increased levels of household participation (as a result of households conveniently throwing all recyclables into one stream/bin)

• more efficient collection and reduced collection costs

• change from multi-stream to single stream recycling resulted in an approximately 50% increase in the production of recyclable commodities

• On average, the presence of a single stream recycling system increased recycling rates by 4.11% and 3.94% relative to communities who implemented multi-stream recycling

 

Expectation that single stream recycling systems recycle at a higher rate than multi-stream systems as it is more convenient for households to place all recyclables in one bin

 

ASK: Which recycling system do you think would best fit Wakefield School?

 

Materials

 

• Materials that will act as “recyclables”

• Bins to put them in