Garbology 101 Teachers Pre-Visit Packet

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1 Garbology 101 Teachers Pre-Visit Packet The staff at Crissy Field Center is pleased that your class will be participating in Garbology 101, an urban environmental education program. This packet contains logistical information about your program as well as resources for you and your students. Among these resources are activities that you may find useful in preparing your class for their visit and follow-up activities for use after the program. Please feel free to use only the activities you feel are most appropriate and convenient for your class and curriculum schedule. Thank you again for participating in our education programs, and we look forward to seeing you and working with your class! What is Garbology? Garbology: the study of garbage (found in a landfill or other solid waste disposal site) as a means of learning about the society that left it behind. What is a Landfill? Landfill: carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment (groundwater, air, rain). This isolation is accomplished with a bottom liner and daily covering of soil. Sanitary landfill: landfill that uses a clay liner to isolate the trash from the environment. From:

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3 Table of Contents What to Expect... 4 A summary of the logistics and expectations for the day. Schedule for the Day... 5 Approximate times for your program activities. Resources for Teachers... 7 Background information... 9 General information about garbage and its relationship to history and ecology. Vocabulary Vocabulary words printed in bold will be used during your program. Activity 1: Setting the Stage Some questions to help your students start thinking more deeply about garbage in the environment. Activity 2: Recycling Challenge A series of short games and challenges dealing with resource use, garbage and recycling. This activity is a fun introduction to discussions about natural resources and can be used before or after your program. Activity 3: Create a Landfill We will be working with model landfills during your Garbology 101 program at the Crissy Field Center. Activity 3 explains how to make your own miniature landfills in the classroom and is intended to be used after your program. Activity 4: Wrappers and Boxes and Bags Oh My! A lunchbox audit in which students score their lunches based on how many of the items can be reused or composted. This is a good activity to use after your visit to Crissy Field Center. Activity 5: Natural Resources Game of Memory A memory game that requires students to match common products to the resources used in making them. This game is well-suited for use after your program. Resources for Students Are Plastic Bags Harming the Environment? A kid-friendly article about plastic in the environment. Garbology Word Search A word search (and answer key) using vocabulary related to Garbology 101. Recycling Fun Facts Some amazing statistics about garbage and recycling in the United States. 3

4 What To Expect Your students will be learning about the history of the Presidio, excavating and sorting artifacts in the Presidio Archaeology Lab, investigating model landfills to learn about decomposition, and creating journals from recycled materials. The class will be divided into two groups for the timeline segment and in the Archaeology Lab activities; if you prefer, you may choose to designate groups ahead of time. Please ask your students to dress appropriately and be prepared to get a little messy. Arrival Staff from the Crissy Field Center will greet you at the entrance. We will happily provide nametags for your students, but you can save time by giving them nametags before you arrive. Your students will have the chance to use the restrooms and put away their lunches and backpacks before the program begins. Lunch Please have your students bring a bag lunch. There will be a scheduled lunch break during which your class will eat outside on the plaza in front of the Center. If it is raining or cold, we will provide an indoor space for your lunch. Chaperones The active assistance of adult chaperones can help to make your program even more successful. We will ask chaperones to spread themselves out among the students to help answer questions, distribute supplies, and manage safety (particularly when crossing the street). 4

5 Program Schedule all times are approximate Total Program Time: 3 hours Arrive and settle in: 5 minutes Students will have the chance to take a bathroom break and receive nametags for the day. We will provide a place to store lunches, backpacks, jackets, and other items. Welcome and introduction: 10 minutes Students are introduced to the park and to garbology. Model Landfills: 60 minutes In small groups, students investigate model landfills to learn about the process of decomposition. Lunch: 20 minutes Students should bring a bag lunch. Unless it is raining, your class will eat outside. Archaeology Lab: 40 minutes In small groups, students excavate, sort, and identify local artifacts from different time periods. Walking timeline: 35 minutes Students learn about the history of Crissy Field and the people that have inhabited this area. Closing: 10 minutes Lesson concludes. 5

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9 Background Information About Garbology Studying garbage is important for several reasons. First, garbage has historical significance; it can tell us a lot about the past and about the societies that threw it away. By studying an individual s or a community s trash, we may be able to tell what resources were available to them, what types of products they made and used, what foods they ate, and how they lived. Second, our garbage is ecologically important; the type and amount of waste that we produce, and what we do with it, affects the world around us. Our consumption uses resources, some of which are non-renewable. Our waste takes up space and contributes to pollution, impacting our own health as well as that of the environment. Our feelings about garbage may reflect our attitudes toward the natural world. The Dirt On Garbage Americans today recycle more than ever before. However, we also use more than ever before; thus the amount of waste we send to the landfill hasn t changed much. While the majority of this waste, according to the Terrific Science Press, is made up of paper and debris from construction and demolition, our disposable lifestyle contributes enormously as well. Think about how often you or people you know use items such as disposable cameras, paper plates, cups, or napkins, plastic silverware, plastic bags, pre-packaged or individually wrapped foods, disposable diapers, paper towels, plastic water bottles, and so on. Consider the rate at which electronic products (computers, for example) become obsolete and must be replaced. In our modern, industrial society, it is both affordable and acceptable for most of us to use and discard many material items. The average person throws away 4.5 to 5.5 lbs. of garbage per day! The type of waste that we produce also bears some consideration. Whereas a thousand years ago, the Ohlone and other Native Americans made their tools, clothing, and houses from materials such as wood or bone, today we rely more and more on metals and petroleum products such as plastic. Many of these materials take an environmental toll in their production as well as their disposal. Mining and oil drilling are major causes of water and air pollution and habitat destruction. Synthetic products, such as Styrofoam and plastic, are among the slowest waste to break down and may remain intact in the environment for hundreds of years! Some garbage, most notably electronic waste, have the potential to leach toxins into our water and the surrounding environment. Where the Trash Goes According to the EPA, about 56% of our solid waste goes into landfills, 14% is burned at combustion facilities, and 30% is recovered through reuse, recycling, and composting. Federal and state regulations determine where and how landfills can be built and operated and what type of waste can go into them. Modern landfills are built to separate the waste from the surrounding environment in order to reduce pollution. However, the seals that prevent landfills from leaking or leaching toxins into the environment may also increase the time it takes for the waste inside to decompose. Recycling is a fantastic option for many of our paper, plastic, glass, and metal products but it takes energy and, often, money to turn one thing into something else. Most environmentalists recommend buying only the products that we need and then using (and reusing!) them for as long as possible. The 5 R s are REDUCE! REUSE! REPAIR! RECYCLE! ROT! 9

10 Vocabulary archaeology: artifact: decompose: excavate: garbage: landfill: Ohlone: recycle: stratigraphy: the study of the lives and cultures of the past through the examination of artifacts any object made or altered by humans to rot or decay; to break down to dig up something that is unnecessary or unwanted carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash is kept from the surrounding environment the name given to the groups of Native Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area to reuse or remake an item into something new the way soil gets deposited in layers over time classification: natural resource: nonrenewable resource: petroleum: renewable resource: to put things or ideas into groups based on a system something we use that is provided by nature something we use that is never replaced by nature, or takes a very long time to be replaced (oil, minerals) crude oil (from underground, not vegetable oil) something we use that is easily replaced by nature (corn, trees) 10

11 Activity #1: Setting the Stage You may wish to discuss the following questions with your students: Do you know where your trash goes once you throw it away? What is a landfill? Have you ever seen a landfill? Do you know which landfill your trash goes to? What do you think happens to garbage once it is put in a landfill? How much trash do you think you contribute to a landfill each day? Do you think we will ever run out of space for our garbage? What do you think people did with their garbage before landfills were available? Do you think that the garbage in a landfill affects you, the environment, or wildlife? How? What do you think your trash says about you? Encourage your students to generate 2-3 additional questions of their own. If you like, you can bring them with you on your field trip and ask us! You may wish to visit the following websites: A fun website with activities for students and resources for teachers is EcoKids: (go to Play & Learn > Topics > Waste) The EPA offers this useful website about solid waste management: StopWaste.org, in Alameda County, offers this website: 11

12 Activity #2: Recycling Challenge In this activity, teams play a series of games and attempt to earn the highest number of points. Game #1: Nature Recycles 1. Divide students into teams of Give each team a piece of paper and a pencil. 3. Allow each group 5 minutes to list ways that nature recycles things (a fallen tree becomes soil, grass becomes bird nest material, ocean water becomes rain). 4. Have each team read its list to the class. 5. Teams receive one point for each valid example. Explain: In the natural world everything is used over and over. Waste is a human idea. Game #2: What s In Our Trash? 1. Give each team a piece of paper and a pencil. 2. Have each team rank the following items in order, based on this question: If we emptied a typical garbage can, which material would we find the most of and which would we find the least of? Items: glass, metal, plastic, paper. (Answers: paper-38%, metal-14%, plastic-8%, glass-4%.) 3. Teams receive one point for each correct ranking. 12

13 Game #3: Recycling Relay 1. Explain that everything we buy and use comes from natural resources. Resources that can be replaced when used are renewable (i.e. wood or cotton). Those that can never be replaced or that take an extremely long time to replace are nonrenewable (i.e. metals or petroleum/plastic because there is a finite amount of them on the planet). 2. Ask: What are some examples of renewable and nonrenewable resources? 3. Line the teams up in rows, all facing one way. 4. Across the room, place one paper bag for each team containing pieces of paper with these words: glass vase, plastic cup, steak, book, aluminum can, cardboard box, cotton shirt, and steel bucket (or use cards from the Memory Game on page 17 of this packet). 5. Each member of the team (one at a time) runs to the bag, takes out an item, runs back, and places the item in one of two piles: Renewable Resource or Nonrenewable Resource. Once the active team member has chosen a pile, it is the next team member s turn to run and draw an item from the bag. 6. Each team receives one point for each correct answer. 7. If there is a tie, the team that finishes first receives one additional point. (Answers: Renewable -- steak, book, cotton shirt; Nonrenewable --glass vase, plastic cup, aluminum can, steel bucket.) Explain: We help preserve limited resources by reducing the waste we throw away. We can do this by reusing things, like giving a glass vase to a friend, donating a book to the library, or reusing a plastic cup. We can also recycle many items so they can be made into new things. Option for younger students: Rather than using the categories of Renewable and Nonrenewable, you can play a similar game with Recyclable or Not Recyclable. Objects can include those mentioned in this game or other items that the students may encounter everyday. Game #4: Guess Your Weight In Garbage 1. Ask each team to guess how much garbage their team as a whole throws away each day. 2. Have a person stand on a bathroom scale. Write down their weight. 3. Hand them a garbage bag, and begin to fill it with garbage or other material, such as books. 4. Continue adding until you have added 22 pounds of garbage to the bag. The average person throws away 5.5 pounds per day or 22 pounds per day for a 4-person team. (Be sure to adjust the weight if your teams are not 4-person.) 5. The team whose guess came closest to the correct amount receives 5 points. Activity adapted from 13

14 Activity #3: Create a Landfill In this activity, you create model landfills for your classroom and watch how different materials decompose over time. Materials: One or more plastic tubs or large glass jars A variety of natural and human-made items to be the trash. Use items such as fruits and vegetables, leaves, plastic bags or bottle caps, metal keys, paper. Soil Procedure: 1. Make a list of all of the items you will put into your landfill and what each is made from. Keep this list for future reference. 2. Fill the plastic tub(s) or jar(s) with alternating layers of soil and trash, beginning and ending with soil. 3. Close the container and store it somewhere visible. Periodically during the school year, look through the sides of the container or empty it out to see how the items are changing over time. Discussion: Which items do you think will decompose first? Why? How long do you think it will take each item to decompose? Which items changed the most after 1 month? 3 months? What were they made from? (If using more than one landfill:) Did the items decompose differently in different landfills? Why or why not? What items do you throw away the most in your daily life? How quickly do you think those items break down in a landfill? What kind of changes would you have to make in order to throw away fewer items that are slow to decompose? Variation: Make 2 to 4 landfills of the same size and place the same items in each of them. Keep one closed, as in the original instructions. For the others, create a variety of conditions with which you can compare the first. For example, you may keep one container open to the air. Another may be watered periodically. Another may contain only trash and no soil. Watch over time to see how the items decompose under different conditions. 14

15 Activity #4: Wrappers and Bags and Boxes Oh My! Lunch Bag Audit This activity can be used before or after your program. Background: The amount of packaging used for lunch box food (i.e. pre-packaged meals, juice boxes, plastic baggies) is a major contributor to what reaches our landfills. The lunch bag audit on the following page requires students to have a pencil and a sack lunch. They will be analyzing the contents of their lunches to decide if it is environmentally friendly.* It is best to perform the audit on a sack lunch from home, with no prior warning as to what students will be doing. If students do not bring a lunch from home, the school or teacher could provide one. *Please be sensitive in discussing this topic; it is intended to bring awarenes and not to lay blame or cause guilt. It may be helpful to discuss some of the reasons that we choose the items and packaging that we do (convenience/availability, durability, cost, advertising, taste, etc.) and what practical options exist for making different choices, understanding that not everyone may have the same options or always be in a position to make the ideal choice. Discussion: One third of the trash that Americans produce is packaging. Usually this packaging is made from materials such as glass, plastics, or aluminum, which will last for centuries without decomposing. In modern landfills, even biodegradable materials may not degrade because of the lack of air and water needed by microorganisms that would break down the materials in a natural setting. Procedure: 1. Have the students complete the lunch audit on the next page. 2. You may want to have your students perform this audit periodically throughout the year to see how the amount and type of trash they produce change as they grow more aware and, hopefully, more proactive. From: The Conservation and Environmental Studies Center, Burlington County, NJ 15

16 Wrappers and Bags and Boxes Oh My! You will need your sack lunch and a pencil to complete this activity. Take out the contents of your lunch bag and record the number of items that you find by putting a tally mark in the appropriate box: Reusable Items Tally Not-so-Reusable Items Tally reusable lunch box or bag paper bag Thermos juice box reusable plastic container reusable napkin reusable utensils (fork, knife) Total Reusable Items plastic straw single-serving container plastic wrap plastic baggie aluminum foil plastic utensils Total Not-so-Reusable Items 1. From your Not-so-Reusable column, which of these items do you throw away everyday? 2. Which of the items that you listed for Question #1 could you use again? 3. Which of the items that you listed for Question #1 could you replace with a reusable alternative? 4. How could you use less packaging so you will make less garbage? 5. Write a list of 3 things you can do at home to cut down on garbage. You can make a difference no matter what you scored! If you use any one item just one more time before throwing it away, you can save one-half of the materials and energy needed for one-time use. You would also reduce the amount of garbage that you contribute to our landfills. Adapted from Lesson Plans Page.com: 16

17 Activity #5: Natural Resources Game of Memory Just like the real game of memory, students must match the cards that go together. But in this game, instead of matching two identical pictures, students must match the product with the resource(s) used to make it. Materials: Set of Memory Cards (provided on the following pages or you may create your own) Procedure: 1. Cut out the Memory Cards from the following pages. We recommend laminating the cards to make them last (this also makes them easier to pick up). 2. Spread out the individual Memory Cards on a flat surface, face down. 3. Students take turns flipping over two cards at a time. If the product and the resource match, they may remove those two cards and take another turn. If not, both cards must be turned face down again (in the same place), and the next student takes his or her turn. Play continues until all cards have been matched and removed. 4. Optional rule: to claim a pair of cards, a student must correctly identify whether the resource being used is renewable or non-renewable. Discussion: Did you know what resources were used to make all of the products? Did anything surprise you? Why is it important to distinguish between renewable and non-renewable resources? In your life, do you think you use more renewable or non-renewable resources? What kinds of products do you use the most? Which of these products did people use 100 years ago? 1000 years ago? In this game, you traced products backwards to what they were made from. If you traced them into their future, what would you see? Where would these products go or what might they become? Do you think it s important to know what things are made out of before you buy them? Why or why not? 17

18 Product: HONEY HONEYBEES and FLOWERS flowers need soil, sun & water to grow Product: LUMBER TREES trees need soil, sun & water to grow Product: PLASTIC BAGS OIL oil comes from fossilized plant matter 18

19 Product: STYROFOAM OIL oil comes from fossilized plant matter Product: MILK COWS cows eat grass and grains grass and grains need soil, sun & water to grow Product: WOOL SWEATER SHEEP sheep eat grass and grains grass and grains need soil, sun & water to grow 19

20 Product: LEATHER JACKET COWS cows eat grass and grains grass and grains need soil, sun & water to grow Product: NEWSPAPER TREES trees need soil, sun & water to grow Product: PAPER BAGS TREES trees need soil, sun & water to grow 20

21 Product: T-SHIRT COTTON cotton needs soil, sun & water to grow Product: GLASS BOTTLE SAND and heat Product: CHEESE - BURGER COWS (meat) cows eat grass and grains LETTUCE, GRAINS (bun), TOMATO (ketchup) grains and vegetables need soil, sun & water to grow MILK (cheese) milk comes from cows 21

22 Product: CELL PHONE METAL metal comes from the earth PLASTIC comes from oil Product: COMPUTER Product: POTS & PANS PLASTIC plastic comes from oil METALS gold, lead, cadmium and other metals come from the earth GLASS glass comes from sand METAL iron, aluminum, copper, etc. come from the earth 22

23 Product: FRUIT PLANTS and pollinators bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats, other insects Product: SODA BOTTLE PLASTIC plastic comes from oil Product: TOILET PAPER TREES trees need soil, sun & water to grow 23

24 Product: ZIP-LOC BAG PLASTIC plastic comes from oil Product: BREAD GRAINS wheat, oats, rye, etc. need soil, sun & water to grow Heat from gas or electricity that comes from oil, coal, wind or water Product: SCRAMBLED EGGS EGGS eggs come from chickens that eat grains and insects HEAT from gas or electricity that comes from oil, coal, wind or water 24

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27 Are Plastic Bags Harming the Environment? An article from National Geographic Kids News April 05, 2004 "Paper or plastic?" Nearly every time someone buys groceries, he or she is asked this question. The answer is not as easy as it may seem. According to environmentalists, plastic bags and paper bags both have drawbacks. Plastic bags are everywhere. According to the Virginia-based American Plastics Council, 80 percent of groceries are packed in plastic bags. "The numbers are absolutely staggering," said Vincent Cobb, a businessperson from Chicago who launched reusablebags.com. He notes that consumers use between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags per year worldwide. Plastic bags can be found in landfills, stuck on trees, and floating in the ocean. What is the effect of all of these bags? Some experts say that they harm the environment. Plastic bags can take hundreds of years to break down. As they break down, they release poisonous materials into the water and soil. Plastic bags in the ocean can choke and strangle wildlife. Endangered sea turtles eat the bags and often choke on them probably because the bags look like jellyfish, the main food of many sea turtles. In fact, floating plastic bags have been spotted as far north as the Arctic Ocean to as far south as the southern end of South America. One expert predicts that within ten years, plastic bags will wash up in Antarctica! Despite these negative effects, plastic bags do have some advantages. "Plastic grocery bags are some of the most reused items around the house," explained Laurie Kusek of the American Plastics Council. 27

28 Plastic bags hold school lunches, line trash cans, and serve as gym bags. These uses decrease plastic bag waste. According to the Film and Bag Federation, a trade group within the Society of Plastics Industry, paper bags use more energy and create more waste than plastic bags. Plastic bags require 40 percent less energy to produce than paper bags and cause 70 percent less air pollution, the group explained. Plus, plastic bags release as much as 94 percent less waste into the water. Paper bags do, however, break down more quickly than plastic bags. They also don't strangle wildlife. What, then, should people do? While some experts have argued for placing a tax on plastic bags, others worry that the tax would cause people who make plastic bags to lose jobs. Some people also worry that making plastic bags more expensive (through taxes) would increase landfill waste because stores would start using paper bags again. Another possible solution would be to use biodegradable plastic bags, a technology that has recently improved. "Biodegradable" means that the bags naturally break down, like, for example, a banana peel does when you leave it outside. Perhaps the simplest solution for now, however, is to pack groceries in reusable bags, such as cloth tote bags. Reported by John Roach and written by Sara Ives National Geographic Kids News 28

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31 Recycling Fun Facts During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50, ounce aluminum cans are made. An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now! The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years. Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away. Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year! Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose - - and even longer if it's in a landfill. The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste. More than 20,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it. A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water. A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers -- make sure they're recycled! These and other fun recycling facts can be found at 31