I got to do a little “trash talk” with some first graders at Clarks Creek Elementary in Plainfield. They all knew a bunch already, but we went over it just to make sure. They knew about landfills and the 3R’s (Reduce Reuse Recycle). I pulled some items out of a trash bag and they told me if you could ReduceReuseRecyle that item. They knew what many items were made of (paper, metal, plastic). One new thing to many was where those materials came from. Most knew paper came from a tree and we dont want to keep cutting trees down. Only a couple knew that metal come from underground. I dont think anyone knew that plastic came from oil.
We talked about the 3 steps in Recycle (collect, manufacture, purchase) and how we need to get better at step 3 (buying stuff made with recycled content). Then we did 2 activities.
1) We model the recycle process with broken crayons. They had to process the crayons : pull paper off, sort by color, break into smaller pieces, put them in the to the silicone molds. Then I melted them in a toaster over (need a bigger oven, could only put 1 mold tray in at a time). They take about 8 minutes at 250 degrees and about 30 minutes to cool/solidify.
I need to get MUCH neater with pulling molten wax molds out of the oven…i kept spilling it
2) the 2 teachers had cut up old t-shirts into strips for students to braid doggie pull toys (Reuse)
This was my first time braiding, same for most of the students. But I think it went well.
Some numbers :
we still generate almost 5 pounds per person per day
National recycling rate is 32%
Indiana is 20% (goal is 50%)
Most trash still goes to a landfill (I think about 5% is burnt for electricity or heat)
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