Prolonging Landfill Life

Prolonging The Life Of A Landfill

Grade 5 Physical Science- Properties and Changes of Materials (MC)
Grade 5 Social Studies- Resources and Wealth (RW)
Grade 5 English Language Arts- Compose and Create (CC)

Outcomes:

• MC5.3 Assess how the production, use, and disposal of raw materials and manufactured products affects self, society, and the environment.
• RW5.1 Explain the importance of sustainable management of the environment to Canada’s future.
• RW5.2 Hypothesize about economic changes that Canada may experience in the future.
• CC5.4 Using a writing process to experiment with and produce multi-paragraph narrative, expository and persuasive compositions that clearly develop topic and provide transitions for the reader.

Lesson 1: What’s In A Landfill?

Materials

• Photos of landfill (see attached worksheet, or individual JPEGS - Landfill; Landfill-Burnables; Landfill-Metals; Landfill-Rubble)
• Waste collected from classroom bin or lunchroom - try to include things that could be re-used, recycled, and composted  OR
• pictures of assorted waste

Instructional Procedures

1. Play music video “Love to Love You Landfills” (2:47)
2. Show students the display of “garbage”.  Explain these items are examples of “solid waste”.  Every community must have means or procedures to deal with solid waste materials.  Household waste is just one source of material that is found in the “waste stream”. What else may make its way into the “waste stream”? (construction waste, tires, paint, hazardous chemicals, etc.)
3. Discuss how your community manages waste. (Back alley collection, recycling programs, composting, landfill, etc.)
4. Show pictures of a landfill(see attachedworksheet,or individual JPEGs -Landfill; Landfill-Burnables; Landfill-Metals; Landfill-Rubble).  Allow some discussion of the students’ impressions of landfills.  What do they notice about the photos of the landfill? (There are some piles of sorted materials.)  This is to get the students thinking about the processes that a landfill uses to divert the waste materials.
5. Have students complete the worksheet individually or in small groups.
   1. Why should materials be sorted before they reach the landfill?
   2. What do you think happens to the materials that are sorted?
   3. What do you think happens to waste material that is already mixed together (ex. household waste)?
6. Bringing students back to group, discuss answers.
   1. The materials need to be sorted so they can be recycled and, in the process, diverted from landfills.
   2. The materials are sold or distributed to recyclers.
   3. Material that is already mixed together is a problem and very little can be done with it.  This is the material that is filling up the landfills.  Once it is in the landfill, it is too expensive and time-consuming to sort through the material. 

* Teacher Note * Students may bring up the concept of decomposition in the landfill.  Explain to students that most things will decompose if given enough time. You may choose to share the table below to show the extremely slow decomposition rates of common garbage material.  In Saskatchewan, landfills are fairly dry and garbage takes a long time to break down.  The materials that do break down produce air pollution (methane) and/or water pollution (leachate).

Prolonging the Life Of A Landfill – Decomposition Rates In The Landfill

http://www.ways2gogreen.com/DontThrowThisAwayDecompositionRates.html

Lesson 2: Prolonging The Life Of A Landfill

Instructional Procedures

1. Review last lesson’s findings, especially the idea that our household garbage is what is causing the landfills to fill up.
2. Watch the video: CBC News on Town Of Markham Zero Waste (2:25)
3. Discuss the idea of zero waste.  It is based on the idea of reducing the amount of raw materials we use, reusing items, recycling, and composting organic materials to divert as much as possible from going into the landfill.  From a manufacturer’s standpoint it means closing the raw materials loop – i.e. using raw materials to produce a product and recycling that product into a new product (e.g. aluminum cans).
4. Return to the list of “garbage” from Lesson 1.  How could the students use the practices of reducing, reusing, recycling and composting to keep each item from making its way into a landfill and in turn contribute to the zero waste initiative?
5. As a class, find examples of each solid waste management practice. For example - Reducing: buying used products and donating items you don’t need (Kijiji, thrift stores); Reusing: using plastic containers (such as margarine or sour cream) for storage in the home; Recycling: collecting glass items to be recycled; Composting: collecting organic material for compost. For additional ideas on how to reduce or reuse at home or at school, go to:

http://www.saskwastereduction.ca/wastereductionweek/wrw-index.html

6. How can these practices increase the lifespan of a landfill or help towards the zero waste initiative?  What can you personally do to help?  What can your community do?
7. A) Make a poster showing alternatives to “throwing out” garbage to increase the longevity of a landfill or to promote the zero waste initiative.  These can be posted where other students in the school can view them, such as areas where students have access to recycling and composting.

OR
B) Write a persuasive letter to your newspaper or municipal office, asking about initiatives to prolong the life of your landfill. This could include the students’ opinions about solid waste management, the zero waste initiative and facts that support their comments.

Additional Ideas/Resources

Resources for Additional Inquiry

CalRecycle - School Waste Composition

Printable PDF version including worksheets and resources sheet

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