Student Worksheet

Thought-starter: How many recyclable materials do I throw out?

Part A: What is recyclable?

Your teacher will provide you with a quiz. Once you have completed the quiz activity, work independently to answer the following questions:

1. What was most surprising or interesting about the information in this quiz?

2. What is one new thing that you learnt from this quiz?

3. What would you like to know more about? How do you think you might be able to find out about this?

Part B: Sorting rubbish

1. Sort the sample of rubbish into groups: paper and cardboard, plastic, aluminium, steel and glass. Any item that is not recyclable can be thrown away.

2. Approximate the volume of each type of recyclable by filling a paper bin. You may need to fill the bin more than once and use fractions to estimate when the bin is partially filled.

Table 1. Sorting rubbish

3. Dispose of all materials, clean the paper bin and wash your hands thoroughly.

Part C: How much is that?

1. Dimensions of the bin

You now need to measure the dimensions of your paper bin. It is likely that the bin you have used for this investigation is not a perfect prism, which means you will need to write a few assumptions before you can use your volume formulas. These assumptions will mostly be written about the slope of the bin and how you are going to adjust your volume formulas for a shape that is not a prism. Your assumptions may be about manipulating the dimensions of the bin or using more than one volume formula. Your teacher will assist you in writing these assumptions.

Table 2. Bin dimensions

2. Volume of the bin

Use appropriate volume formula/s to work out the volume of the bin.

Table 3. Volume of the bin

3. Volume of recyclables

Now that you have found the volume of your bin, find the volume of each type of recyclable material collected during your investigation.

Table 4. Volume of recyclables

4. Making projections

The figures that you have calculated above come from one sampled area of the school, on one day. Calculate how these figures will increase over time:

Table 5. Making projections – sample area

Think about where your sample of rubbish came from and approximate how many of these places might there be at your school.

Discuss with your peers and decide on a number:

Approximate number of areas:

Now use this figure along with your volume calculations to make the following projections:

Table 6. Making projections – chosen area

Reflection

Read the following quote from Visy:

1. How does the quote above tie in with our investigation?

2. Why do you think recyclable materials are being thrown away as rubbish?

3. Can you think of ways to reduce the number of recyclables being thrown away? Discuss with a peer and make a list of your ideas:

4. Can you think of any people in your school or community that need to be told about this issue? Use the space below to outline how you might communicate this issue to a particular person or group of people. You may, for example, write a letter or draw up a poster. You may even be able to use your ideas from the last question or your calculations from the investigation.

Visy Education - Recyclables in the Rubbish?

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