Garbage: Follow the Path of Your Trash with Environmental Science Activities for Kids

By Donna Latham and Tom Casteel

That potato chip bag you tossed in your trash can this afternoon—where does it go when it leaves your house?

Garbage: Follow the Path of Your Trash with Science Activities for Kids invites middle graders to investigate the world of trash! The average American produces more than four pounds of trash every day—multiply that by 300 million people and you’ve got a lot of garbage! Where does it go? How does it break down? What are the challenges of dealing with so much waste? What can we do decrease the amount of stuff we are throwing away? Garbage explores questions like these while encouraging kids to think about the choices they make that generate garbage in the first place.

In this book, kids discover the science of garbology, the fascinating world of midden excavation, and learn about different rubbish warriors who are determined to save the planet from being overrun with trash. Readers learn ways to reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink their actions by diving into critical-thinking activities designed to get kids looking at trash as a situation in need of a solution. While we all appreciate our garbage to be out of sight and out of mind, it’s crucial to recognize the impact that human behavior has on the planet.

Garbage includes hands-on STEM activities and critical thinking exercises to encourage readers to figure out ways to be part of the rubbish revolution. Fun facts, links to online primary sources and other supplemental material, and essential questions take readers on an exploration of the path of trash!

Garbage is part of a set of four Build It Environmental Science books that explore the history and science of the planet and all that live on it through hands-on STEM activities and real-life environmental connections. Other titles in this series are Biodiversity, Planet Earth, and Biomes.

Nomad Press books integrate content with participation. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Release date: Mar 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781619307452

Book preview

Introduction

A THROWAWAY

WORLD

What have you tossed in the trash today? A gnawed apple core? A mangled plastic straw? Maybe you threw away a tattered backpack or an old pair of sneakers.

Trash is stuff we consider useless. Another word for trash is garbage. We throw garbage away. Anywhere you find people, you’ll find garbage—mounds and mounds of it. A gyre of plastic trash floats in the middle of the ocean. Garbage is even marooned on the surface of the moon.

Usually, we don’t realize how much stuff we throw away. In just one year, an average family of four in the United States churns out 6,351 pounds of waste. That’s enough to fill a three-bedroom house to the ceiling.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Why does it matter where our garbage goes after we throw it out?

WORDS TO KNOW

gyre: a spiral.

maroon: to leave someone or something trapped somewhere that’s hard to get to.

waste: material that is not wanted.

landfill: a huge area of land where trash gets buried.

incinerator: a large furnace that burns trash.

wake: a trail of something left behind.

scavenge: to find usable bits and parts from discarded stuff.

After you throw away that empty potato chip bag, what happens? Do you lug your trash cans out to the curb at night, only to find them empty in the morning? Do you chuck your trash bags into the dumpster behind your building or at the dump, never to see them again? It’s easy to get rid of garbage so you never have to see it again. Trash is out of sight, out of mind.

But—what happens to all that garbage once it leaves our hands?

Trash gets jam-packed into landfills or burned in incinerators. But trash doesn’t always make it to a garbage can. It’s often left behind as messy litter that people carelessly scatter in their wake. Litter flutters across our streets, parks, and beaches. No wonder so many people talk trash these days!

Beachfront garbage

credit: epSos.de (CC BY 2.0)

Bootprint on the moon

Garbage can even be found out of this world! During the historic 1969 Apollo 11 mission, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin gathered rocks and soil from the surface of the moon. The astronauts left behind an American flag and a heap of space trash.

To lighten their spacecraft’s load and make room to transport samples back to Earth, astronauts left empty food sacks, vomit bags, a TV camera, collection tongs, and magazines on the moon. They even left the space boots that made those famous footprints on the moon’s surface.

WORDS TO KNOW

reduce: to use less of something.

reuse: instead of tossing out an item, using it again or for a new or creative purpose.

recycle: shredding, squashing, pulping, or melting items to use the materials to create new products.

rethink: to reconsider—to think about something again and change your mind about it.

resource: things found in nature, such as wood or gold, that people can use.

debris: the scattered pieces of something that has been broken or destroyed.

THE FOUR Rs: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, RETHINK

In this book, you’ll explore ways you can reduce, reuse, and recycle garbage. You’ll also find ways to rethink choices you make every day. To reduce is to use less of a product or material so there’s less waste. For example, instead of grabbing three paper towels to dry your hands after washing up, use one.

To reuse is to save things that you would normally throw out—and use them again or for another purpose. Turn an old beach towel into a cozy blanket for your pet. Pass along clothes to family or friends. Donate books to a library or shelter.

To recycle means to break down old items in order to make new ones. Recycling saves resources and energy. Some materials commonly recycled include plastic, paper, glass, and metal.

WORDS TO KNOW

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): a department of the U.S. government concerned with the environment and its impact on human health.

hazardous waste: a waste with properties that make it dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment.

environment: everything in nature, living and nonliving, including animals, plants, rocks, soil, and water.

Rethinking is another crucial activity in the struggle against garbage. Rethinking means looking more closely at something and thinking again about your choices. By examining your habits, you might change them for the better.

For example, do you drink bottled water at soccer practice or dance rehearsal? Did you know it requires 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce a year’s worth of bottled water? That’s enough fuel for 100,000 cars for a year. After rethinking, you might fill a reusable stainless-steel water bottle instead.

In our throwaway world, we toss out trash constantly. But what does out really mean? And where, exactly, is away? What happens when we run out of out and away? Trash might be out of sight, but try to keep it in mind.

DID YOU KNOW?

Nail polish Rat poison. Oven cleaner. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an average family produces 20 pounds of such hazardous wastes yearly.

Watch a video to learn how Kamikatsu achieved this enormous, inspirational accomplishment. How might a program like this operate in your own community?

Stories town no trash

Like many people, you probably care about keeping the environment clean and healthy. In a world crowded with nearly 8 billion people, it’s easy to think one person can’t make a difference. But you can. Every effort counts. Become a rubbish warrior like the people you’ll meet in this book!

Ready to take a hard look at the stuff we throw away? Let’s follow the path of your trash!

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Why does it matter where our garbage goes after we throw it out?

Chapter