Topic: Solid Waste: Trash & Plastic Waste
Lesson Plan:
1. Watch video (4 minutes) – The Plastic Bag Mockumentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw
2. Trash – give some vast #’s from Intl to domestic. Review the natural resources used for our recyclables. Now urge the class to think about trash: What is trash? Does it matter what you throw away? Where does it go? How does it affect the environment? Explain landfills & tipping fees. How do landfills affect our environment? (5 min)
3. Trash Can – Bring one in with commonly discarded materials
laden with plastics & packaging materials but the basics, too (stash it in a corner like it’s real). Call on individuals to come up and pick an item - hold it up and ask : Is it truly trash? Can it be reused, recycled or…composted? Was it really needed or was there an alternative? Is it hazardous? Discuss each and brainstorm alternatives for each item on the board. Then, review Curbside recycling, what can Not go into it, and about sorting. (10-15 min)
4. Plastic Waste – mention the Graduate movie – 1967 post-war. Plastics were the way of the future, but now, reveal the reality and how they’ve come full circle – we’re now seeing the repercussions. Provide general info, non-biodegradability, etc…. (stress Styrofoam). Talk about the oceans – pass around photos. Show and pass some items that recycled plastics can be made into – hands on. (10 min)
5. Watch video clip (1 minute) about Refusing Plastics; Sign the Pledge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCumZMU1y4E. Mention Reusable vs. Plastic bags at the grocery store. Straws, plastic bottles…
6. Conclude by challenging the class to examine their consumption and disposal habits each day and challenge them to produce as little trash as possible. (2 min)
Show & Tell items: to go container (Styrofoam), to go container paper or foil, straw, soda cup, napkin, nail polish, chip bag, beverage ring, candy bar wrapper, sushi plastic container, plastic water bottle, plastic bag, ABC gum, ½ sandwich in Siran Wrap, apple core, banana peel, ½ eaten bagel, empty sports drink container, battery, CD, Booby plastic bracelet, rubber band,
US TRASH
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.4 lbs. of garbage a day. That’s 29 lbs. per week or 1,600 lbs. per year. The United States produces approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. This is equivalent to burying more than 82,000 football fields six feet deep in compacted garbage. This amount of trash could cover the state of Texas two and half times and also fills enough trucks to form a line to the moon. Where does it all go? A lot of our trash ends up being buried in a landfill. The U.S. has 3,091 active landfills and over 10,000 old municipal landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Anything that goes into a landfill is covered with layers of clay and other materials that basically mummify the remains. This means that without air and water, our trash has become our archival remains for future generations. This may sound culturally resourceful, except landfills are the largest humanmade methane source in the United States. Once methane is released into the air, it becomes a greenhouse gas. And then there is the toxic leachate, or liquid that seeps and drains from a landfill, that ends up in our aquifers. Not a pretty picture
Plastic Effects
• Plastic wastes can break down and release toxins that harm the environment, animals and the general public, according to the International Plastics Task Force. Certain chemicals--such as bisphenol A--can cause some serious health concerns, according to an article on plastic bottles by Beth Daley of the Boston Globe. Even low doses of bisphenol may cause developmental problems in children.
BIODEGRADABILITY
Drop a ketchup bottle on the floor, and you'll be thankful for polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, the nearly indestructible plastic used to make most containers and bottles. Drop the same bottle into a landfill, however, and you might have second thoughts. Why? Because petroleum-based plastics like PET don't decompose the same way organic material does. Wood, grass and food scraps undergo a process known as biodegradation when they're buried, which is a fancy way of saying they're transformed by bacteria in the soil into other useful compounds. But bacteria turn up their noses at plastic. Load their dinner plates with some plastic bags and bottles, and the one-celled gluttons will skip the meal entirely.
Based on this logic, it's safe to argue that plastic will never biodegrade. Of course, that's not the end of the story. Daniel Burd, a student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, recently demonstrated that certain types of bacteria can break down plastic. His research earned the top prize at the Canada-wide Science Fair, earning him $10,000 cash and a $20,000 scholarship [source: Kawawada].
Until other researchers can replicate Burd's experiment and waste treatment plants can implement any new processes, the only real way to break down plastic is through photodegradation. This kind of decomposition requires sunlight, not bacteria. When UV rays strike plastic, they break the bonds holding the long molecular chain together. Over time, this can turn a big piece of plastic into lots of little pieces.
Of course, plastic buried in a landfill rarely sees the light of day. But in the ocean, which is where a lot of discarded grocery bags, soft drink bottles and six-pack rings end up, plastic is bathed in as much light as water. In 2009, researchers from Nihon University in Chiba, Japan, found that plastic in warm ocean water can degrade in as little as a year. This doesn't sound so bad until you realize those small bits of plastic are toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer. These end up in the guts of animals or wash up on shorelines, where humans are most likely to come into direct contact with the toxins.
Non-Biodegradable
Styrofoam appears to last forever, as it is resistant to photolysis, or the breaking down of materials by protons originating from a light source. This, combined with the fact that Styrofoam is lightweight and therefore floats, means that over time a great deal of polystyrene has accumulated along coasts and waterways around the world. It is now considered the main component of marine debris.
Why won't recyclers take No. 1 or 2 unless it's a bottle?
A. Even though plastic bottles and tubs might have the same number inside their recycling symbols, they are not really made of identical material. Bottles are produced through one kind of molding process and tubs through another, and these two processes require different plastic mixtures that melt at different temperatures. If these plastic containers are recycled together, the result is a mixture of material that has little value in a second round of manufacturing. If separated, they each have greater value. Unfortunately, even when plastic tubs are collected separately, they have relatively little value as a material to manufacturers. Try to buy things in containers that you can recycle in your area. (To find if you can recycle a container in your area, search 1800recycle's on-line database.) If recycling is not possible, perhaps there is a way to reuse such containers around your home.
Q. Why do plastics have a number on them if they can't be recycled.
A. The numbering system was designed so that plastics could be sorted according to a few broad categories. Once the system was adopted, recycling companies were able to identify plastic containers by type. Recycling companies could thus separate and collect the plastic types that had sufficient market value to cover the costs of collection and transportation. Since Washington is distant from most plastic manufacturing markets, there are many types of plastic that simply cannot be recycled economically in this state.
Why can’t plastics be mixed together?
The reason plastics aren’t typically melted together and then separated later is a matter of both physics and economics. When any of the seven common types of plastic resins are melted together, they tend to separate and then set in layers. The resulting blended plastic is structurally weak and difficult to manipulate. While the layered plastic could in theory be melted again and separated into its constituent resins, the energy inputs required to do so would make such a process cost prohibitive.
How Many Types of Plastic Are There?
You may think that plastic is just plastic, but there are actually about forty-five different families of plastics. In addition, each of these families can be made with hundreds of different variations. By changing different molecular factors of the plastic, they can be made with different properties, including flexibility, transparency, durability, and more.
Problems with Styrofoam
Styrofoam has become such an accepted everyday product that people often don't stop to realize that it is made from polystyrene. Polystyrene is a petroleum-based plastic. In fact, Styrofoam is the trade name for polystyrene. It gained popularity because it is lightweight, offers good insulation properties that keep products cold or hot, and keeps things safe during the shipping process without adding weight. While there are some positive aspects of the material, the years have shown that Styrofoam also has harmful effects.
Environmental Health Concerns
Environmental health concerns start with the elements used to make Styrofoam. Styrene, for example, is the foundational ingredient used to make polystyrene. It is broadly used in the manufacture of plastics, resins, and rubber.
The EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have established styrene as a possible human carcinogen. For those who are exposed regularly in the manufacture of products made with styrene, some of the acute health effects experienced include:
• Irritation of the skin
• Irritation of the eyes
• Irritation of the upper respiratory tract
• Gastrointestinal effects
Chronic exposure to styrene leads to further complications, including affects on the nervous system. Symptoms of chronic exposure include:
• Depression
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Minor effects on kidney function
• Styrofoam appears to last forever, as it is resistant to photolysis, or the breaking down of materials by protons originating from a light source. This, combined with the fact that Styrofoam is lightweight and therefore floats, means that over time a great deal of polystyrene has accumulated along coasts and waterways around the world. It is now considered the main component of marine debris.
One of the most serious threats to our oceans is plastics pollution. Plastic constitutes approximately 90% of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile. Why is there so much plastic in the ocean? Unlike other types of trash, plastic does not biodegrade; instead, it photo-degrades with sunlight, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces, but they never really disappear. These plastic pieces are eaten by marine life, wash up on beaches, or break down into microscopic plastic dust, attracting more debris.
Plastic is also swept away by ocean currents, landing in swirling vortexes called ocean gyres. The North Pacific Gyre off the coast of California is home to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest ocean garbage site in the world. The floating mass of plastic is twice the size of Texas, with plastic pieces outnumbering sea life by a measure of 6 to 1. These floating garbage sites are impossible to fully clean up.
Plastic poses a significant threat to the health of sea creatures, both big and small. Over 100,000 marine mammals and one million seabirds die each year from ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic.
It takes 500-1000 years for plastic to degrade. Even if we stopped using plastics today, they will remain with us for many generations, threatening both human and ocean health. Despite these alarming facts, there are actions we can take to address the problem of plastics.
Fast Facts
The average American will throw away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year.
8% of the world’s oil is used for plastic production.
Biodegradable bags prevent the deleterious effects of plastic on ocean environments. They break down naturally, and don’t leave harmful chemicals behind.
Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world.
Approximately 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per US resident, per year.
Impact of Plastic Waste on Oceans, Beaches and the Environment
Want to know how bad plastic litter is getting in our oceans? This article provides a "snapshot" of the harmful effects. Please read it and forward on to others. For more information, visit Plastic in Our Oceans in our Newsroom.
Overview
We assume a few of you have heard about the "Texas-sized plastic island" off California's west coast, but how about the disturbing news of plastic beaches and plastic sand?! Plastic is accumulating at an alarming rate in our oceans - wreaking havoc on wildlife, polluting our beaches and entering our food chain. Our addiction to use-and-toss items is causing this growing problem.
As reported by National Geographic