BACKGROUND:
Packaging in the American society is
sometimes more expensive than the product itself. Young children who are
brought up in a culture that discards everything do not think about
throwing things away when they may be useful. Packaging of small toys
lore a child to urge their parents to buy the products.
If you are an average American, you
generate about 4.3 pounds of solid trash per day or 200 million tons of
trash. Over 70% of the trash could be recycled, but Americans tend to
throw objects away, adding the tonnage to landfills throughout the
United States.
About 86 percent of U.S. landfills
are leaking toxic materials into lakes, streams, and aquifers. Once
groundwater is contaminated, it is extremely expensive and difficult,
sometimes even impossible, to clean it up.
PROCEDURE:
- In the previous discussion,
you have talked about the major types of garbage. In this lab, students
will save their garbage for a predetermined time (which you will
assign). Have the students measure how much garbage they have in each
category. This can be a homework assignment, as long as you are strict
about the rules you want followed. (They might bring in used toilet
paper, if you are not careful!)
- After they categorize the garbage,
measure the amount and record on a data sheet as follows. Units will
depend on the type of balance, whether kilograms or pounds.
| |
PAPER |
GLASS |
METAL |
PLASTICS |
RUBBER |
|
Joe |
1 kg |
1 kg |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Mary |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sharon |
|
|
|
|
|
- After you tabulate the student's
garbage, total the amounts. If you have other classes doing this lab,
compare charts. The students will probably be amazed at how much garbage
is actually thrown away.
