What is waste? It’s everything we throw away and then some. Most of what ends up in landfills is paper. There’s also food, plastic, metal, glass, textiles, wood, and much more. Challenge students to think of other things that end up in the garbage. How each student keep a journal of what they throw away for a week. After a week, examine your list (or lists) to see what items were repeated most often. Is there a way to keep these items out of trash? Is there a way to reduce how much we use of them, or to reuse or recycle them?
If you’d like to make is more visual, use your classroom bulletin board to illustrate the experience. Create a picture of trash dumpster to put on the bulletin board. Place a sign over it that says, “Thing I should throw away.” Next to the dumpster, place a sign that says, “Things I didn’t need to use.” Examples of these items include plastic plates, paper plates, plastic utensils, paper towels, plastic bags, and paper bags. Assign the students to draw pictures of what was on their lists. As each child draws a picture, have her pin it on the dumpster or under the items she didn’t need.