Exploring Environmental Issues: Municipal Solid Waste

Through the Exploring Environmental Issues: Municipal Solid Waste module, students begin understanding waste management issues and options. The module uses hands-on experiences to show the interrelationships among waste generation, natural resource use, and disposal. The activities guide students through waste management strategies and solutions while providing the necessary tools to make informed decisions and choices on waste management issues.

Here's what's inside:

• Introduction

• Background Information

• Student Activities (Overviews of the activities are available):
  
  1. Introduction to Municipal Solid Waste: The Waste Stream
  2. Source Reduction
  3. Recycling and Economics
  4. Composting
  5. Waste-to-Energy
  6. Landfills
  7. Where Does Your Garbage Go?
  8. Take Action: Success Stories and Personal Choices

• Appendices
  1. Bibliography
  2. Glossary
  3. Solid Waste Regulations
  4. The Throw-Away Quiz
  5. Vermicomposting
  6. Composting in a Bottle
  7. Metric Conversion Chart
  8. Subject Index
  9. PLT Conceptual Framework
  10. Spanish Translation of Student Pages

Find a Municipal Solid Waste workshop near you.

Resources
Earth & Sky
Use a 90-second Earth & Sky radio show in conjunction with a PLT activity to "virtually" bring a guest scientist into your classroom. Listen to or download a related Earth & Sky show and its transcript.

Related Earth & Sky Shows:
Activity 1: Introduction to Municipal Waste:The Waste Stream
 - Assaf Biderman Says Electronic Trash-Tracking Will Show Urban Environment in New Light   
 - Ralph Kahn Believes Future Levels of Pollution Will Reflect Our Choices  
 - The Economics of Recycling Everything  
 - Jeremy O’Brien on Why Some Items Can be Recycled, but Others Not  

Activity 2: Source Reduction
 - Mathis Wackernagel: In 2007, Humans Go Into Ecological Debt in October

Activity 3: Recycling and Econonomics
 - The Economics of Recycling Everything 
 - Jeremy O’Brien on Why Some Items Can be Recycled, but Others Not  

Activity 5: Waste-to-Energy
 - Mike Goosey Says Biofuels Challenging, but Necessary Next Step 
 - Janaki Alavalapati Says the Forest Biofuel Market is Evolving   
 - Bruce Rittman Uses Bacteria to Make Energy from Waste 

Activity 6: Landfills
- Assaf Biderman Says Electronic Trash-Tracking Will Show Urban Environment in New Light   

Activity 7: Where Does Your Garbage Go? 
 - Assaf Biderman Says Electronic Trash-Tracking Will Show Urban Environment in New Light   

Activity 8: Take Action: Success Stories and Personal Choices
Herman Daly Urges Action on Climate, Despite Uncertainty

Reading Connections
  Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy. Grades 9+.
  The Day the Trash Came Out to Play by David Beadle. Grades PreK-4.
  The Garbage Monster by Joni Sensel. Grades PreK-4.
  The Great Trash Bash by Loreen Leedy. Grades 1-6.
  The Wartville Wizard by Don Madden. Grades 3-6.
  Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash by Susan Strasser. Grades 9+.

Other Resources
Photographs related to trash and consumption, by artist Chris Jordan. You can also view a 10-minute PBS video about his work.

Photographs related to trash, recycling, and consumption by Edward Burtynsky. At the website, click on “Statement/CV” for the artist’s statement about his artwork, and under “Works,” click on “Urban Mines” for relevant photographs.

EPA's Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) aims to ensure that all schools are free from hazards associated with mismanaged chemicals. The SC3 Toolkit (a set of downloadable documents and posters) gives K-12 schools the information necessary to responsibly manage chemicals

Urban and Community Forestry Education