In this lesson, students expand their understanding of solid waste management to include the idea of 3RC (reduce, reuse, recycle and compost). They will look at the effects of packaging decisions (reducing) and learn about engineering advancements in packaging materials and solid waste management. Also, they will observe biodegradation in a model landfill (composting).

In this brochure, the European Aluminium Association (EAA) evaluates the need for vehicle lightweighting to reduce CO2 emissions. Since the 70's aluminum has been used for some car components (radiators, cylinder heads, and bumper beams), but now has grown to the average amount of 140 kg per car produced in Europe. Aluminum castings, extrusions, forgings and sheets can now be found nearly everywhere, including in car bodies, closures, chassis, suspensions and wheels. This resource explains why, now more than ever, reducing vehicle mass is necessary and how aluminum can be used to further improve the sustainability and the safety of future generations of cars.

This report by The Aluminum Association reviews the North American use of aluminum over the past 20 years in order to improve industry emissions, efficiency, recycling, and to address the challenges ahead in regards of sustainability. Challenges faced with sustainability include technological progress, energy and resource use, waste minimization and elimination, business operations, and product end-of-life ("design for recycling" and recycling incentives).

Does yeast breathe? Find out by watching how plastic bags filled with yeast, warm water and different amounts of sugar change over time. Demonstrate the interaction of microorganisms and the carbon cycle with yeast, sugar and water, and discover how organisms are dependent on water and energy flow.

Bottled water, popular among students, is big business even though issues surrounding it related to health and safety as well as its environmental impact have stirred up controversy. Designed for an introductory non-majors environmental science course, this discussion/dilemma case explores the environmental effects associated with the production, consumption, and recycling of bottled water while touching on health and safety issues. Students also learn about government regulations regarding the extraction of ground water and labeling of bottled water; recycling laws and how states circumvent the recycling process; and the economic and ecological costs of drinking bottled water.

Students are challenged to design a method for separating steel from aluminum based on magnetic properties as is frequently done in recycling operations. To complicate the challenge, the magnet used to separate the steel must be able to be switched off to allow for the recollection of the steel. Students must ultimately design, test, and present an effective electromagnet.

Students investigate decomposers and the role of decomposers in maintaining the flow of nutrients in an environment. Students also learn how engineers use decomposers to help clean up wastes in a process known as bioremediation. This lesson concludes a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

Without the work of decomposers, living organisms would eventually use up all the raw materials in the environment, and dead organisms and wastes would pile up. This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" describes the role of decomposers as the earth's great recyclers.

Students brainstorm ideas for board game formats. Then student teams design, create and test games in which players must think of alternative uses (recycling) for used products.

How does infrastructure meet our needs? What happens when we are cut off from that supporting infrastructure? As a class, students brainstorm, identify and explore the pathways where their food, water and energy originate, and where wastewater and solid waste go. After creating a diagram that maps a neighborhood's inputs and waste outputs, closed and open system concepts are introduced by imagining the neighborhood enclosed in a giant dome, cut off from its infrastructure systems. Students consider the implications and the importance of sustainable resource and waste management. They learn that resources are interdependent and that recycling wastes into resources is key to sustain a closed system.

This activity has students do a web-based environmental footprint quiz and integrate their results into a class mean. The students compare their results by creating a bar graph and do some simple calculations to see how much of the Earth just the population of the US requires.

In this activity, learners conduct a waste audit and use their findings to implement a plan for reducing trash. Learners measure trash, sort by categories (compostable, recyclable, etc.) and compile the data. Learners then share their findings and suggest ways to reduce the amount of waste.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is an intriguing and publicized environmental problem. This swirling soup of trash up to 10 meters deep and just below the water surface is composed mainly of non-degradable plastics. These plastic materials trap aquatic life and poison them by physical blockage or as carriers of toxic pollutants. The problem relates to materials science and the advent of plastics in modern life, an example of the unintended consequences of technology. Through exploring this complex issue, students gain insight into aspects of chemistry, oceanography, fluids, environmental science, life science and even international policy. As part of the GIS unit, the topic is a source of content for students to create interesting maps communicating something that they will likely begin to care about as they learn more.

Students learn about the human water cycle, or how humans impact the water cycle by settling down in civilizations. Specifically, they learn how people obtain, use and dispose of water. Students also learn about shortages of treated, clean and safe water and learn about ways that engineers address this issue through water conservation and graywater recycling.

Students explore the concept of "reducing" solid waste and how it relates to product packaging and engineering advancements in packaging materials. They read about and evaluate the highly publicized packaging decisions of two major U.S. corporations. Then they evaluate different ways to package items in order to minimize the environmental impact, while considering issues such as cost, availability, product attractiveness, etc. In addition, students explore "hydropulping" and consider its use as a recycling process.

In a column devoted to interactive resoures for the K-5 classroom, this article features Recycle City, an EPA-produced, student-friendly web site designed to teach students about actions that create a sustainable community. Students will learn about recycling, reducing waste, and using less energy. The column regularly appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

This resource contains a set of eleven modules and supporting labs developed by Grand Valley State University and Muskegon Community College concerning processes for the remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling of advanced energy storage systems. They were developed for use in community college and university programs as well as on-the job training through seed funding from the CAAT. Included with each module is an overview of the topic and lab activities with review questions (instructor version with solutions included).

Students learn how paper is made. Working together, student teams make their own paper. This activity introduces students to recycling; what it is, its value and benefits, and how it affects their lives.

In this activity, learners simulate the separation techniques that materials recovery facilities (MRFs) use and then design their own series of recycling techniques. Learners identify four ways recyclable materials can be separated and sorted at a MRF: conveyor belts, blowers, flotation, and magnetism.