consumption and waste

Consumption and Waste

Grade 8 Health –Understanding, Skills, and Confidences (USC)
Grade 8 Social Studies- Resources and Wealth (RW)

Outcomes:

Lesson 1:  What Gets Thrown Away?

Materials:

Collect a variety of materials from the following categories.

Instructional Procedures

1. Show the students the variety of items you have collected, or have a bag of common items for small groups to work with.  Explain to the students that these are items that are commonly found in the trash.  Have the students record the items.
2. Compost - Discuss the term “compostable”. Compostable refers to items that are organic and will decay/decompose.  (Note: although materials like meat and dairy products are organic, they are not encouraged in composting.  This is due to odors and creatures that may be attracted to these items.)
3. Reduce - Discuss what they could do to reduce the things they buy.  Reducing means consuming fewer resources.  This can be done by buying used items, borrowing items you don’t need to own, and buying good quality products that will last and can be given away when you no longer want them.  Example: borrowing books from the school or public library, or holding a “Book Swap” in your school.
4. Reuse - Discuss what is involved in reusing an item.  Reusing means using the product over again without any changes to it other than cleaning.  A reused item does not change form.  Example: Reusing a bag for carrying groceries or carrying your lunch in reusable containers.
5. Recycling - Discuss what recycling refers to.  Recycling requires an item to go through a series of steps (collection, processing, shipping, manufacturing, etc.) in order for the item to be made into another product.  Recycling requires more resources and energy than reusing.  Recycled items do change form. Example: glass being recycled into fiberglass.
6. Have students complete the checklist for each “waste” item, outlining whether the item can be recycled, reused, or if it is suitable for household composting.  (Attached Worksheet - “What Can We Do With This?)
7. As a class, share the students’ answers and their reasoning.
8. Have students go to www.recyclesaskatchewan.ca to see which “waste” items are included in Saskatchewan’s provincial recycling (stewardship) programs.  (Beverage containers [tetra, plastic and aluminum], tires, electronics, paint, oil).

(http://www.saskwastereduction.ca/dbase.php).  This database allows students to find where an item can be recycled in their community.

Note: The environmental handling fee you pay when you buy things like juice, paint, electronics, etc., is used to pay for collecting, processing and shipping the used materials.  The five programs in Recycle Saskatchewan are all funded this way.  Fees also ensure that all communities have access to recycling facilities.  The environmental fees are paid up front so that consumers and manufacturers are responsible for the environmental consequences of products and their packages.  Consumers fulfill their responsibility by taking these items to the appropriate collection centre.

9. As a group, discuss what items we regularly put aside for recycling that are not represented by Saskatchewan’s stewardship programs (e.g. paper, cardboard, metal).  Why do you think this is?  Conduct a discussion about whether students would be willing to pay a charge for paper, metal, etc.  Without a fee to cover the costs, some communities are discontinuing the collection of paper/cardboard because current commodity prices don’t allow them to make money on collecting or recycling the materials.
10. Ask students what steps recyclable materials must go through before they are made into new products (collection, preparation for shipping, transportation to recycling facilities, processing into new products.)  The following video link shows a coke bottle being recycled. (2:45)
11. Have students revisit the initial “garbage” list.  How much of the “garbage” was truly garbage? 
12. For the next class, have students bring a packaged item to class. (e.g. pen in package, packaged food, cosmetics, vitamins, etc.)

Lesson 2   What Do I Buy?

Materials

Several prepackaged materials that represent a variety of packaging (e.g. lip balm that is marketed loose with a sticker closure, a lip balm that is marketed loose with plastic wrap and a lip balm packaged on cardboard or in a box; pens in package/not in package; snack packs of cookies/bag of cookies, homemade cookies.)

Students’ packaged items from #12 in Lesson 1 above.

Instructional Procedures

1. Show the students one set of products and packaged materials.  Discuss the packaging and the differences.
2. Discuss the product and its packaging from many points of view. (e.g. the lip balm – which packaging is better for the consumer?  For recycling?  For composting?  Why would the manufacturers use a full cardboard sheet to package a small item?  Why would they use a shrink wrap-style package? etc.)
3. Look at the product and its packaging again, looking for recycled content. See the attached document for a description of what the Mobius loops means.

   Does this information change what the students may or may not buy?  Why is it important to have this information written on the product?

4. Have students examine their packaged item with the following things in mind:

• consumer choices: the variety of packaging available for the item/similar items.
• environmental impact of the packaging: resources used in its creation.
• disposal: is the packaging garbage or can it be recycled, reused or composted?
• recommendations: How could the item be packaged in a more environmentally-responsible way?

5. Using the packaged item as their example, compose a letter questioning a company’s packaging choices.  Students could share some of their ideas on improving the packaging, facts they have learned about packaging or if they would switch products because of how it is made or packaged.

Printable PDF version of lesson plan with worksheet

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