“Let’s keep our neighborhoods, parks, trails, sidewalks, and streets free from trash, single-use plastics, and pollution. Here are solutions to reduce the generation of waste.”
Solutions to Reduce Trash:
Identify types of trash and their life cycle.
- Identify the types of trash and waste products generated at your school. Make a poster to learn what waste can be recycled and composted.
- Recyclable Trash:
- paper, cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, plastic water bottles, and glass bottles.
- Compostable Waste:
- food scraps and yard waste. They can be safely broken down into the soil without leaving toxic residues.
- Landfill Trash:
- Most trash is disposed of in landfills.
- Many single-use plastics, such as sandwich bags and veggie wrappers are not recycled. These items can end up polluting our oceans and rivers, if not managed properly.
- Recyclable Trash:
- Learn what happens to the trash generated at your school.
- Identify recyclable waste.
- Where is the waste recycled? How far is the facility?
- Identify wastes that can’t be recycled.
- What percentage of the trash goes to a landfill or incinerator?
- Make a poster describing the flow of trash and garbage.
- First, start when it’s placed in the waste bin or trash can at school or home.
- Record the day of the week or the date when it leaves.
- What is its final destination for disposal or recycling?
- Does it go to a recycling center, landfill, or incinerator? How far does it travel?
- Make a map showing how far your trash travels from your home or school to its final destination. Common disposal options are landfills, incinerators, or recycling centers. Hazardous waste is disposed of at a hazardous waste treatment facility.
Reducing Waste
- Reducing the generation of all types of waste is the best option.
- Identify options for reducing trash generated at home, school, and elsewhere.
- Can you replace disposable items with reusable items?
- Identify types of trash that can be eliminated with reusable items.
- What can be recycled?
- Make a poster summarizing what you learned.
- Not all recyclable wastes get recycled.
- How can you increase the amount of trash that is recycled?
- Identify options to increase recycling.
- Contact your local waste management and disposal company to learn more about what happens to your trash.
- Create a table summarizing what you learned.
- Invite guest speakers to your school to discuss waste management options.
How to Reduce Plastic Waste:
- Identify the types of plastic waste you generate at school or home.
- What happens to this plastic trash?
- Make a poster to summarize what you learned.
- Estimate how much plastic waste gets recycled and how much does not. Can some of the plastic items be reused?
- What are the biggest sources of plastic waste and make a list.
- Identify options for reducing the amount of plastic trash generated at home or school.
- Make a poster on the types and amounts of plastic waste being generated.
- Include how much gets recycled and options to reduce the amount of plastic waste.
- Single-use plastics create tons of trash each year. They are used as utensils, cups, plates, containers, bags, straws, and packaging materials.
- Identify alternatives to replace single-use plastics, such as reusable utensils, cups, water bottles, and other items.
- Encourage your friends and family to start using more sustainable and reusable alternatives.
Managing Household Hazardous Waste Safely:
- Learn what types of household hazardous waste are generated at home and how your family disposes of this waste.
- Most household hazardous waste consists of used batteries, expired medication, electronic equipment, paints, motor oil & fluids. Old and outdated computers, tablets, cell phones, and TVs are examples of what becomes electronic waste.
- These types of waste can’t be disposed of in the trash, flushed down the toilet, or poured down the drain.
- Is there a local household hazardous waste collection center that accepts this type of waste?
- What is the location and hours of operation?
- Some cities have special household hazardous waste collection days.
- Find out where you can recycle your old electronic equipment.
- Learn what types of household hazardous waste the collection centers can accept.
- Sometimes you need to go to several different household hazardous waste collection centers or businesses. Not all places can accept every type of household hazardous waste. Be persistent! This is very important.
- Share the information you learned with others. You can do this by preparing a poster or making a speech to family, friends, and other students.
- To find out more about household hazardous waste click here.
Reuse and Recycle:
Reuse at home
- Go on a scavenger hunt in your house.
- Sort trash and/or items you no longer need or want into the following categories: reusable, recyclable, or landfill.
- Find items that can be reused for other useful purposes. Empty food containers can be cleaned and reused to store food products or other items. Clothing, toys, and some electronics can be donated.
- Identify items that are no longer used or need to be replaced. This helps your parents save money and reduces the generation of future waste.
- Sort trash and/or items you no longer need or want into the following categories: reusable, recyclable, or landfill.
- Donate old clothes, toys, and other items you no longer want or need to someone else or a charitable organization.
- Instead of throwing these items away, it is best to give them to someone else who can reuse them. They will be glad to have them.
Sustainable Options
- Help your neighborhood fast-food restaurant become more sustainable.
- Go to a local fast food place and list the items that can and cannot be recycled.
- List the items that should be replaced with more sustainable items. Recommend replacing plastic straws, plastic or foam cups and containers, and plastic utensils with biodegradable or paper products.
- Do you see recycling bins?
- Find out what the restaurant recycles.
- List of things you think they should recycle.
- Provide copies of your lists to the store manager. Let them know you plan to present your lists to people in your neighborhood who frequent the fast food place. You will be helping them become a more sustainable business and reduce waste through more recycling.
- Ask stores in your town or community to visibly display their recycling statistics.
- Request that they identify the types and quantities of waste being recycled.
- Sharing recycling information with the community is good for business.
- Start a waste exchange program in your area. It is a place where people and businesses can swap or give away items they no longer need or want.
- A waste exchange program is an effective alternative for minimizing discarded items sent to the landfill. It encourages people to give useful items to others instead of throwing them away.
- This is an excellent way to reduce waste sent to a landfill.
Making Recycling Easier
- Encourage schools, stores, and businesses in your area to recycle
- If your state or county does recycle, encourage more curbside recycling.
- We can increase recycling by encouraging everyone to recycle.
- Find or ask someone to help you publish recycling information in a local paper or newsletter.
- If you have a recycling center in your town but not curbside recycling, then become a recycling King or Queen. Start by collecting recyclable items such as aluminum, plastic, and glass.
- Ask the recycling center if they can announce recycling information to the community. Suggest they announce this in local papers, emails, or newsletters to increase recycling efforts.
- Suggest that they hold quarterly events to increase recycling.
- What to do if there is no recycling program and you are living in a Recycling Desert? You can start writing letters or emails to get a recycling center or curbside recycling program started.
- Write a letter to your city councilperson or mayor about building a recycling or waste exchange program. Explain that your purpose is to reduce waste sent to landfills.
- If your state or county does recycle, encourage more curbside recycling.
Clean up Neighborhoods
- Volunteer to pick up trash at a park, a beach, a wetland, or a neighborhood.
- Start a Trash Pick-up Patrol for your school or neighborhood.
- Make sure you all wear the same color t-shirt.
- We recommend wearing t-shirts that you own or worn by someone else (a reused t-shirt).