Student worksheet

Wasting at our school

Upper Primary School Students Managing Waste - Video 4 https://vimeo.com/75177233

1. Recall from the video some ways the students managed waste?

2. Define the types of waste that was shown in the video.

3. How might the bins in the video become contaminated?

4. What goes into each of the school’s bins?

Designing our survey

What must you do to remain safe while surveying bins:

Your teacher will designate a bin, a group of bins in one location or several bins in different locations that you and your group will survey.

You need to design your survey of rubbish bins so you can find out:

How much rubbish has been deposited in rubbish bins between the time before and after the lunch break?
How much recycled materials have been deposited in recycling bins over the same period?
How much compost material has been deposited if your school has a compost system?
What percentage of the material in the bins consists of contamination (or in the rubbish bin that should be in the recycling)?
What area the bins service.

You will be measuring the volume of waste. Look at the bin in your classroom. Use a ruler to measure its height and the width of its base.

What units of volume will you choose? For example: mm³, cm³, m³ or km^3.

The unit of measurement we will use for volume is

You will be measuring an area of school ground. What unit of measurement will you use? For example mm², cm², m², hectare or km².

The unit of measurement we will use for area is

Discuss with your teacher what measuring tools are available e.g. metre rulers, measuring tapes (at least 20m long) or trundle wheels.

Write a design for your survey by explaining:

How you will measure the volume of rubbish in the bin? Most bins have a narrowing base. Measure the bottom of the bin and take away about .5 to 1cm and calculate the bin as if it were square. This will approximate the volume.
How you will measure the depth of waste in the bin without handling the waste or making the ruler dirty.
How you will record the items of waste and the amount of contamination.
How you will go about measuring your allocated area.

The design of our survey:

Your group will need a survey sheet. Below is an example of a table to survey for the bins. Each bin will need a new table. When finding out the area, you will need to make a map as you divide it up. You may need to measure a series of squares, rectangles and triangles to obtain the total area.

Sample bin survey

Type of bin

Interpreting and analysing data

Complete your calculation for the volume of waste, the percentage of contamination and the area the bins serviced.

How much area did your bins service?

What volume of rubbish was placed in the rubbish bin?

What volume of recycling was placed in the recycling bin?

What volume of composting material was placed in the composting bin?

What was the % contamination of the recycling bin? %

What was the % contamination of the composting bucket? %

What percentage of material in the rubbish bin could have been recycled? %

As a class discuss how well your school’s waste system is working and how it might be improved.

Ideas for improving the school’s waste system are:

Show them how well Maths works

Present your findings and your ideas for improving the school's waste system to the appropriate school leadership team.

These Planet Ark resources were developed by Cool.org with funding from the Alcoa Foundation.

National Recycling Week - What's In The Bin today?

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