Chances are you and your classmates are already recycling, reusing and finding other ways to reduce the waste you produce. When was the last time you really took a hard look at what you throw away during the day? In this experiment you and your classmates will carefully analyze the waste in your classroom and develop plans to help reduce the amount of waste you produce. Once you have developed a working plan for your classroom you can use what you know to help reduce waste throughout your whole school, on field trips and at home.

Objectives

You and your classmates will develop a plan on how to reduce, recycle or reuse your waste by carefully monitoring your classroom's waste composition, weight and volume.

Procedure

1. Using waste baskets and/or cardboard boxes set up 7 trash bins and label as follows:

• Paper white(for white paper)
• Paper color (for all other paper)
• Aluminum cans (for aluminum products)
• Glass (for glass products)
• Plastics (for plastic products)
• Yuck (for organic matter such as food scraps, used Kleenex etc.)
• Other (for all other trash)

Diagram 1

2. Estimate the weight and volume of glass, metal, and paper waste that your classroom accumulates in a week. Write these numbers down. When estimating volume use cubic feet. One cubic foot is a box 12 inches long by 12 inches wide by 12 inches high. See diagram 1.
3. Line the aluminum, glass, organic, other and yuck with plastic bags.
4. Weigh each bin and the plastic liner. You will need to know the combined weight of the bin and liner when you weigh your trash at the end of the week. So you don't forget, write the bin's weight on a piece of masking tape and place it on the bin.
5. Measure each bin's width, length and height with a measuring tape or a ruler. Calculate the bin's volume in cubic feet and record it on another piece of masking tape.

Here's how:

Let's say your "YUCK" bin measures 34" wide by 22" long by 41" tall. To find out its volume in cubic inches, multiply its length by its width by its height. 22"X34"X41"= 30,668 cubic inches To find the volume in cubic feet you must convert your bin's measurements into feet before multiplying. 22"/12 = 1.83' long and 34"/12 = 2.83' wide and 41"/12 = 3.42' high Therefore your bin in cubic feet is: 1.83' X 2.83Õ X 3.42'= 17.72 cubic feet



6. Post a large piece of paper by each trash bin so you and other students can report what they throw away. See diagram 2. For fun use pseudonyms (false names) so only you know what you have been throwing away during this activity.

Diagram 2



7. During the course of a week, monitor the trash bins. If a bin becomes too full, create a new one making sure that you weigh it and measure it's volume. During the week, continue to encourage classmates and teachers to separate and toss their trash into the appropriate bins. You may want to make posters or flyers explaining the importance of the this experiment.
8. At the end of the week weigh and measure all of the trash by following the procedure listed below. Make sure you do not handle the yuck trash. When you are done using the "Yuck" bag make sure to dispose of it properly.

Estimating the volume of your trash.
Estimate the volume of trash one trash bin at a time. For example let's say your plastics' bin has a volume of 4.25 cubic feet and is 3/4 full of plastic trash. The volume of your plastic trash is then 3/4 X 4.25 = 3.2 cubic feet. Record the volume of each type of trash.

Measuring the weight of your trash.
Place your trash bin on a scale and weigh it. Subtract the weight of the bin and the plastic liner from the total, this is the weight of the trash. Record the weight of all the trash.

9. Break up into small groups and try answering the following questions.

Questions

1. Compare your results to your estimates that youi made at the beginning of this activity. Estimate how much trash your classroom throws out in a year. From this information can you estimate the amount of trash does your school throws out in a year?
2. Look at the different types of waste thrown out. Is some waste more harmful to the environment?
3. Look carefully at the paper waste. Can you think of ways to reduce your paper waste?
4. What can you do to reduce your classroom's total waste for next week?
5. Go ahead and implement your changes and follow the above procedure for your second week.
6. Calculate your classroom waste reduction in percent.
7. Please report how your classroom reduced the amount of trash it throws away each week on our web site at: http://www.mcet.edu/environment/trash. You can also visit this web site to see what other classes are doing to reduce the amount of waste they create.

[ Activities Index ]

This Web site has been created for the
MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences
and the National Institute of Health Sciences