1. Recycling Program 6th – 8th Do Now Activities
Are You Bee Green?
Recycling Program 6th – 8th Do Now Activities

2. For Teachers: Are YOU Bee Green?
Green Living Science is a non-profit organization dedicated to recycling and environmental education in the City of Detroit. For more information please visit greenlivingscience.org
This Do Now power point is a resource to help remind students of the importance of recycling and to increase the success of the recycling program at your school.
For more information about Green Living Science or about field trip opportunities to Recycle Here! or helping your students receive recycling bins at home please contact or call Ext. 3

3. Are YOU Bee Green? Are YOU Bee Green?
Doing these quick activities will help you to Bee Green and become expert recyclers!
Make sure to:
Have FUN!
Learn something new!
Share what you learned with someone else!
Directions: You can show this the first time you implement these activities. This allows students to know that these activities are to help students become the next generation of recyclers in the City of Detroit!

4. Are YOU Bee Green?
Reducing means making less waste. If you throw out your plastic water bottle each school day, you’ll have thrown out almost 200 plastic water bottles by the end of the school year! However, if you use the same plastic water bottle over and over, you’ll have reduced the amount of plastic you use.
Directions: After students have had time talk with a neighbor about how to reduce material usage in the classroom allow time for students to share. You can write these down and post them to encourage students to practice them daily. Be certain to discuss how students can reduce the amount of paper they use by using scrap paper.
Source: Living Green: Saving our Earth By: Patricia Clare
Turn and Talk:
Share ways to practice reducing waste in the classroom.

5. One way you can reuse materials in the classroom.
Are YOU Bee Green?
Reusing is another way to make less waste. There are many different ways to practice reuse; you can refill bottles of water, create an art project or give your games to someone who wants them rather than throwing them away.
Directions: After students have had time to write down a few ways to reuse materials in the classroom allow time for students to share. You can write these down and post them to encourage students to practice them daily. Be certain to discuss how to reuse paper by using the backside after filling up the front, also inform students they can reuse water bottles by filling them up with juice or water.
Write Down:
One way you can reuse materials in the classroom.

6. Are YOU Bee Green?
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in the United States, an extra one million tons of waste is created each week. Since there are five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s this adds 5 million tons of waste to be thrown away around the holiday season.
Date: Week before Thanksgiving
Directions: Encourage students to think outside of the box in how to create less trash around the holidays. Be certain to address that around the holidays when presents are given to family and friends they are wrapped in decorative paper. One way to reduce the amount of waste created is to reuse wrapping paper or use other materials like newspaper to wrap presents. Explain that it also costs less to decorate newspaper and wrap presents with it.
Source: California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. ‘Give Green’ by Decking the Halls with Less Waste This Year!.
Think about:
What human actions cause this increase in waste between Thanksgiving and New Years? What other ways can the amount of waste be reduced?

7. Are YOU Bee Green?
The estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the U.S. This could fill a football field ____ stories high. A. 100 B. 5 C. 10 D. 55 Turn and Talk: Discuss your answer with your neighbor and explain why you selected your answer.
Directions: Answer C—10 stories high which is about 120 feet. Allow time for students to share explanations.
Source: California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. ‘Give Green’ by Decking the Halls with Less Waste This Year!. Retrieved June 2010 from

8. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Talk:
In your opinion, what is the hardest thing about recycling?
What are some solutions to these issues?
How can you encourage others in the rest of the school to recycle?
Directions: Encourage students to think about what issues they have seen or heard from their classmates about the success or failure of the school’s recycling program. Have a class discussion about solutions to the recycling problems at your school.

9. Are YOU Bee Green?
Each year the average American uses 680 pounds of paper. If all the paper used by one person is recycled it will save 6 trees from being cut down.
Directions: Multiply 680 pounds times the number of students in the class. Once solved as a class calculate how many trees will be saved by multiplying the number of students in the class by 6.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for
Solve:
If every person in your class recycles ALL their paper for one year, about how many pounds of paper would be recycled?

10. Solve: Are YOU Bee Green?
Bee Green gave recycling assemblies at 25 schools. An average of 600 students attend each of those schools.
How many students in Detroit learned how to recycle?
If the average person recycles 1.1 pounds/day, how many pounds of materials are recycled in all 25 schools in one day?
Directions: Allow time for students to work individually to solve the problem then have students work with their neighbor.
-Multiply 25 schools by 600 students = 15,000 students
-Multiply 15,000 by 1.1 = 16,500 pounds
Source: Detroit Public Schools, Demographics

11. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Talk:
Not all of the materials we use should be thrown away; some can be recycled or composted. Although you can not put left over food into your recycle bin it can be used to make compost. Compost is the process of reusing unwanted food’s nutrients to improve soil, and help plants grow better.
Directions: Allow time for students to talk with their neighbor about potential problems of implementing a composting system at school.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Reducing Food Waste for Businesses
Turn and Talk:
What issues might arise when implementing a composting system in your school?

12. Are YOU Bee Green?
Just across the Ambassador Bridge in Canada, many cities use a three bin system to get rid of household waste. One bin is for trash, one for recycling and one is for compost or food waste. All are taken out to the curb and collected just like the trash in Detroit.
Directions: Encourage students to discuss what problems might occur when implementing this type of waste disposal system; like pests, improper use of bins, etc.
Turn and Talk:
Do you think this system could work in Detroit?
Explain why you think this waste disposal system could or could not work in Detroit.

13.
Directions: Click on the link to TeacherTube which will show a short video about the Material Recovery Facility sorting process. Then allow time for students to write down the various scientific or engineering concepts required to build the Materials Recovery Facility. Like density, air pressure, force interactions, speed, gravity, and magnets.
**Please note you may not have access to this website but you can download this video beforehand.**
Source: Teacher Tube, The Cycle Chapter 2 The MRF
Watch and Draw:
Watch this short video about how recyclables are separated, then draw what you think this machine looks like.

14. Are YOU Bee Green?
Directions: Explain that there are many different ways that other countries recycle. This is just one example of how the South American country of Brazil recycles. This image is of the catadores or recyclable/waste pickers in the second largest landfill in the world in Rio de Janerio. Brazil hires these workers who are paid to collect trash or recyclables either from the streets or from the landfills in Brazil.
Sources:
-International Trade Center, Brazil’s catadores to voice their views at RIO+20
-Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, Informal Workers in Focus: Waste Pickers in Brazil
Write: Predict and write what you think the people in the image above are doing.

15. Are YOU Bee Green?
Americans buy more bottled water than any other country in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, plastic manufacturers use 17 million barrels of oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.
Create a math story problem:
Using the information from the paragraph above, write a math story problem and solve it!
Directions: Allow time for students to share their story with a neighbor and solve together.
-Example: How much oil could be saved if the United States stopped using plastic water bottles for 5 years? What about 10 years?
Source: National Geographic Kids Article, Drinking Water: Bottled or From the Tap?

16. Are YOU Bee Green?
Each year the average American uses 222 plastic water bottles. If all the bottles are recycled, it would save 7 gallons of oil from being used.
Directions:
1. Divide 222 bottles by 7 gallons = 31.7 bottles can be made with one gallon of oil
2. Divide 7 gallons by 222 bottles = .03 gallons are used to make one plastic bottle
Source: National Geographic Newswatch, U.S. Bottle Water Sales Are Booming (Again) Despite Opposition
Solve:
How many gallons of oil are used to make one plastic bottle?
How many plastic bottles can be made with one gallon of oil?

17. What is wrong with these pictures?
Are YOU Bee Green?
Directions: Ask students to think about then write what is wrong with the picture. Encourage students to think critically about waste. Allow time for students to share what they wrote.
Source: Photo credit to Chrysler Elementary School
Answer: there is an apple in the recycling bin and paper in the trash bin
Write:
What is wrong with these pictures?
What could be done to correct these problems?

18. Are YOU Bee Green?
Over 75% of waste is recyclable, but we only recycle 30% of it.
Directions:
-Ask students to share what they discussed with their partners about what happens to waste after it is thrown away. Allow time for students to draw what happens to waste after it is thrown in the trash can.
-Explain that in the City of Detroit the garbage that is collected from the curb is sent to the incinerator where it is burned to create energy. Show students that the incinerator is the image on the left and students may have seen it riding down I-94. Elaborate that in other parts of Michigan garbage is sent to a landfill where it is buried under dirt. Show students the image on the right is what some landfills look like.
Source: Do Something, 11 Facts About Recycling
Turn and Talk:
What is the percentage of remaining recyclables that are thrown away?
Where does this remaining waste go?

19. Are YOU Bee Green?
Through the mid-1800’s Europe and the United States recycled old rags and worn-out clothing. This material was the main ingredient to make paper because the process of making paper from trees had not been developed.
Directions: After students have thought about the question allow time for students to share. Explain that while 45% of paper in the US is recycled back into new paper the world demand for paper is too great to use only recycled paper and recovered cloth.
Source: The Rotten Truth About Garbage, A Garbage Timeline
Image: Pulp at paper mill 1947, State Library and Archives of Florida
Think About:
Why do you think people use trees to make paper?
Why don’t we make all the paper we need by using old rags and by recycling paper?

20. Are YOU Bee Green? Write:
Predict and list all of the materials you will use and throw away today.
Draw a U next to the materials that can be reused.
Draw the recycling symbol next to the materials that will be recycled.
Write one way you can reduce
the amount of material you use
each day.
Directions: Encourage students to think about all the materials they use, including food waste, pencil shavings, paper water cups at a sport practice, paper towels, etc. Allow time for students to share how they could reduce the amount of materials they use; include composting food waste, using reusable containers, using a dish cloth instead of a paper towel.

21. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Write:
In an acrostic poem, the key word is written vertically as you see below. Each letter of the word then becomes the first letter of a phrase related to the theme of recycling.
Using the word RECYCLE create another acrostic poem with your neighbor. Look at the example below.
Recycling is fun
Empty plastic bottles
Cans of soda
Yes, paper goes in too
Cardboard boxes
Lets use the blue bin!
Everyone join in!
Directions: Have students write an acrostic poem with their neighbor about recycling.

22. Are YOU Bee Green?
Write: Number your paper 1 to 10. Look at the pictures below and determine which is trash, recyclable or compost. If the material is recyclable put R next to the number, if trash put a T, or if compost put a C on your paper. 1. 4. 2. 5. 3.
Directions: Be certain that students think about what materials go into their blue bins and what is thrown into the garbage bin.
Glass=R
Ketchup Packet=T
Apple Core=C
Cardboard Boxes=R
Dirty Paper Towel=T
Stack of Paper=R
Plastic Bottle=R
Sandwich Bag=T
Metal Cans=R
Newspaper=R 6. 7. 8. 9.
10.

23. Are YOU Bee Green?
Directions: Show the short video depicting how paper is recycled once sorted from the Materials Recovery Facility or MRF. If interested you can explore the other videos that go along with it on TeacherTube. If not allow time for students to talk with their neighbor about the processes the paper pulp goes through to be turned into new products.
**Please note you may not have access to this website but you can download this video beforehand.**
Source: Teacher Tube, The Cycle Chapter 3 Paper
Turn and Talk: Talk to your neighbor about what processes the paper pulp goes through to be turned into new products.

24. Are YOU Bee Green?
Every year, Crayola makes about a half a billion markers—enough markers to wrap around the Earth more than three times!
A group of students from Sun Valley School in California came together and wrote letters to Crayola asking them to create a marker recycling program.
In response, Crayola created ColorCycle, a marker program that recycles markers to create fuel for factory vehicles.
Directions: Encourage students to think about the problems that might be associated with this type of mail in recycling program. For example: how some people might not have the money to send in their markers to be recycled.
Sources: Change.org Petition: Crayola, Make Your Mark! Set up a marker recycling program
Write:
Write a letter to Crayola either persuading them to continue the current recycling program or find another company to write to.

25. Are YOU Bee Green?
Since 1698 Detroit has been dependent on natural resources.
One major resource is the Detroit River.
Over the years, Detroiters have both positively and negatively impacted the river.
For Example, from , 1.7 millions gallons of waste were dumped into the river daily.
Directions: Read aloud and allow time for students to write how dumping waste impacted the river. Explain to students that after waste was dumped into the river it took many decades for the Detroit River to recover from the devastating amount of pollution. During this time different methods were applied to remediate the river back to its original state; including chlorinating the river which caused various species to cease to exist along the river. But with the implementation of laws and people dedicated to cleaning the river it has been cleaned up. Elaborate that when any area is polluted, whether water, land, or air, with waste it takes a long time to restore the area to what it once was and sometimes it can never be returned to its original state.
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Detroit River – Facts and Figures
Write:
How do you think the river and its ecosystem was impacted by the dumping of waste? Brainstorm and write ways the river has been cleaned up.

26. = paper Are YOU Bee Green?
Paper can be recycled and changed into many new products. =
tissues toilet paper construction paper
paper
Directions: Discuss with student that when paper is recycled it goes through a process that changes the paper into new products. Paper is often shred or cut into pieces, then water is added and it is mixed into a paste. Depending on what the new product will be depends on what other chemicals are added to give it the necessary strength, softness or color.
paper towels napkins
Draw: What other products could be made out of recycled paper in the future?

27. Are YOU Bee Green?
Glass takes ______ years to fully degrade or decompose in a landfill. A. 1,000,000 B. 50,000 C. 7,000,500 D. 8,000,000 Turn and Talk: Discuss your answer with your neighbor and explain why you selected your answer.
Directions: Answer is A (1,000,000)
Source: University of Utah, Recycling Facts

28. The average person makes over 4 pounds of trash every day.
Are YOU Bee Green?
Solve:
The average person makes over 4 pounds of trash every day.
How much trash does your class create in one week?
How much trash does your class create in an average month (30 days)?
Directions: Allow time for students to solve the problems.
Solve by multiplying 4 pounds by the number of students in the class then by 7 days = ___ trash created in one week
Solve by multiplying 4 pounds by the number of students in the class then by 30 days = ___ trash created in one month
Then explain to students that the average American produces about 1.5 tons of waste every year.
Source: Do Something, 11 Facts About Recycling

29. Are YOU Bee Green?
Every day Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw away 44 million of them. That is the same as dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week!
Write:
How can you reduce or reuse newspapers to decrease the amount that ends up in the trash?
Directions: Allow time for students to write some ways to reduce or reuse newspaper then let a few students share their ideas. Include how newspaper can be used to clean windows instead of paper towels, or can be decorated and used as wrapping paper. Share with students that paper takes up 50% of landfill space.
Source: The Quest for Less, Unit 2, Chapter 2.4 Landfills and Combustion

30. Are YOU Bee Green?
Americans throw away enough paper each year to build a wall that is 12 feet high from: a. Detroit to Mexico City b. Detroit to Europe c. Detroit to New York d. Detroit to Alaska Turn and Talk: Discuss your answer with your neighbor and explain why you selected your answer.
Directions: Answer is A (Detroit to Mexico City) which is about 2,500 miles. Encourage students to find a map and look at the distance between these multiple choices.
Source: University of Utah, Recycling Facts

31. Are YOU Bee Green?
Upcycling is the process of reusing and converting old materials into new products. There are many examples of upcycling and unlimited ways to upcycle.
Newspaper Bead Tire Planters Koolaid Pouch Bags
Write or Draw:
Examples of upcycling that you have seen or used.
Directions: Allow time for students to write or draw then leave time for students to share.

32. Are YOU Bee Green?
Americans represent ___% of the world’s population, but generate ___% of the world’s garbage. A. 30, 3 B. 2, 80 C. 5, 30 D. 20, 20 Turn and Talk: Discuss your answer with your neighbor and explain why you selected your answer.
Directions: Answer is C (5% of worlds population and 30% of world garbage). Ask students why Americans represent such a large percent of the world’s garbage but have a small population percentage. Allow time for a discussion about these statistic then explain that Americans consume more goods than other countries.
Source: University of Utah, Recycling Facts

33. Are YOU Bee Green?
Write: What do you gather from this image? Create a story around what you see happening in this picture.
Directions: After students have had time to write. Explain that this image is how many people in Detroit recycle. Beside the three neighborhoods that have curbside bins Detroiters recycle by collecting their recyclable materials and bringing it to Recycle Here! located in the New Center area near Wayne State. Here they sort their materials into separate bins like reverse shopping.
Source: Recycle Here!

34. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Debate:
There are opposing views on whether trash can be made into art. One example of this is the Heidelberg Project, located on the eastside of Detroit. This artist collects discarded materials from the city to create a block full of art pieces.
Directions: Make certain that students understand that for this debate they do not have to agree with what they are debating. The purpose of this activity is to learn how to debate a topic. Allow a few students to share some interesting points that came up in their debate with their partner.
Turn and Debate:
Pick one of the positions listed below. Develop at least 3 reasons why you picked that position. Turn and respectfully debate with your neighbor about your position.
Trash cannot be used as art.
Trash can be used to create art.

35. Are YOU Bee Green?
If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30.6
pounds each week.
Solve:
How many pounds of greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced in one year?
Directions: You can give students the hint that there are 52 weeks in a year.
Solve by multiplying 30.6 by 52 = 1,590 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, What You Can Do: On The Road

36. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Talk:
Explain how breaking down cardboard boxes before recycling them can have a positive effect on the environment.
Directions: Encourage students to think about how materials are collected and transported. After students have had time to discuss with their neighbor explain that by breaking down the boxes you are using more space in the dumpster therefore it does not have to be collected as frequently which uses less gas to transport the cardboard.
Source: Photo credit to Chrysler Elementary School

37. Just put it in the blue bin
Are YOU Bee Green?
Write: Using the theme of how to encourage others to recycle, write a haiku. The Japanese form of poetry consists of three lines that do not rhyme. Each line has a set number of syllables: five in the first and third lines, seven in the second line. Using a haiku structure, create a poem that encourages others to recycle. Below are some examples.
Its easy to do
Just put it in the blue bin
Can you recycle?
Directions: Encourage students to think creatively and allow some time for students to share.
Source: Waste In Place, Keep America Beautiful.

38. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Talk:
What is the purpose of painting the school recycling dumpster to distinguish or differ it from the trash dumpster?
Directions: If students are having difficulties, ask students to consider the neighborhood around the school and how they might impact the recycling program.
Source: DPS Go Green Dumpster Painting Challenge, photo from Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies

39. Are YOU Bee Green? Turn and Match:
Look at the pie chart and match the waste disposal system with each piece of the chart.
Waste Disposal Systems:
Recycle: materials are sent to a facility where they are transformed into new products
Compost: organic materials like yard waste and food scraps are sent to a facility where they decompose over time to create plant fertilizer
Landfill: waste is sent to a place where it is put into the ground and buried up with soil
Incinerator: waste is sent to a facility where is it burned at high temperatures
Directions: Have student match the each color of the pie chart to the waste disposal system listed below.
Answers:
-Green: Compost 3%
-Light Gray: Incinerator 4.5%
-Orange: Landfill 81.5%
-Dark Gray: Recycling 11%

40. Are YOU Bee Green? Solve:
The average American creates 1,460 pounds of waste each day. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 75% of waste is recyclable. How much waste could be recycled if every person had and used a recycling bin at their house?
Answer: Students will multiply .75 by 1,460 pounds to discover 1,095 pounds could be recycled.
Did you know you can get a recycling bin at your house? Sign up for a bin at DetroitRecycles.org

41. Are YOU Bee Green? Solve:
Using the pie graph, what percentage of the average dump is recyclable?
Answer:
Directions: Students will add, paper, metal, glass and plastic percentages together.
= 64%
Source:

42. Are YOU Bee Green?
Packaging is the materials used to wrap or protect goods. Packaging represents _____% of household trash. A. 40% B. 65% C. 10% D. 80% Turn and Talk: Discuss your answer with your neighbor and explain why you selected your answer. Then discuss how the packaging from the picture above.
Directions: Answer is B. 65% household trash is packaging.
Source:

43. Are YOU Bee Green? Watch and Draw:
Directions: Click on the link to TeacherTube which will show how plastic is made. Then allow time for students to draw a comic strip about how plastic is recycled into new plastic.
**Please note you may not have access to this website but you can download this video beforehand.**
Source: Teacher Tube, Green Living Science
Watch and Draw:
Watch this short video about how plastic is made. Then draw a comic strip about how plastic is recycled into new plastic!