Garbage

Resource for Grades 1-4

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Media Type:
Video

Running Time: 1m 50s
Size: 1.4 MB

Source: LOOP SCOOPS

This media asset comes from LOOP SCOOPS.

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Collection Credits

Collection Funded by:

Major funding for LOOP SCOOPS is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Although the information in these materials has been funded in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement 83447601 to WGBH, it may not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred.

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In this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS, a sphinx gives a boy named Oliver a week's worth of garbage and asks him to make it smaller. Oliver removes glass, cans, paper, and plastic for recycling; food scraps for composting; and clothes and toys for donating. He is then surprised to learn that the garbage was his own, and learns the importance of "less chucking, more recycling."

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Background Essay

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is the stuff that most of us know as garbage: the coffee grounds, banana peels, packaging, yard trimmings, magazines, newspapers, and other waste that is collected from homes and businesses. Even though people are recycling more than ever, each person in the United States still generates about 4.5 pounds of MSW per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For the whole United States, this adds up to about 254 million tons of MSW every year.

Preventing waste before it is generated—a practice called source reduction—can save money, energy, and natural resources, and also reduce pollution. When corporations make a small change in their packaging, it can make a huge difference. For instance, when McDonald's reduced its napkin size by 1 inch, the company prevented 12 million pounds of paper from being thrown away each year. And when they switched to lighter-weight packaging for two of their sandwiches, they conserved 3,200 tons of boxboard containers.

There are many ways consumers can practice source reduction, as well: avoid products with excessive packaging; buy used items; buy items in bulk rather than multiple, smaller packages; reuse bags and containers; and donate used clothes, toys, and games instead of throwing them out.

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Teaching Tips

Here are suggested ways to engage students with this video and with activities related to this topic.

Viewing the video: Use the following suggestions to guide students' viewing of the video:
- Before: Ask students how much garbage their family throws out each week. One bag? Ten? Tell students that they are going to watch a video about a boy named Oliver and a big pile of garbage.
- After: Ask students to guess how many bags of garbage Oliver had at the beginning of the video, and how many at the end. Did Oliver's garbage remind them of their own? What could they do at home to reduce the number of bags of garbage they throw out?
Doing research projects—groups: Request that the school principal or custodian speak to students about where the school's waste goes. What is the name of the company that collects it? Where is the nearest landfill? Is there a school recycling program? This will allow students to expand their understanding of where and how waste collection operates in the school and community.
Classroom activity: Seat students in a circle. Spread several sheets of newspaper on the floor in the center of the circle. Tell students that they are going to see what's inside the classroom garbage can. Wearing rubber gloves, remove objects from the garbage can and place them on the newspaper, as students identify the items. (Note: For safety, only you—the teacher—should remove items from the garbage can.) Choosing one item, such as a banana peel, juice box, or snack wrapper, tell students they have a challenge: to tell this product's “life story.” Ask students to brainstorm answers to these questions: Where was this item "born"? What materials is it made from? Where did those materials come from? What will happen with this object now that we are done with it? Write responses on the board. Most likely, students will know very few of the answers. Ask them why this is the case. Where do we get knowledge about products? Why might it be useful to know more about a product's life story?
Connecting to subject areas: Help students organize a schoolwide swap meet for items like ice skates, soccer cleats, and winter coats. Arrange for the school to donate any unclaimed items to a local thrift store.