The Garbage Project!

It's time to take out the trash and see just how much garbage goes into our landfills!

An Online Collaborative Project

Project Information | Learning Goals | Participants | Timeframe | Activity Ideas | Registration | Resources | Submit Data

New! View Submitted Data!

Project Information

Overview:

The goal of this educational project for students is to provide an opportunity to gather and analyze data in order to guide their understanding of the importance of responsible waste disposal. Using online student-collected data, they will discover how much garbage is produced by their household within a week's time. By collecting data in an online environment, students can share information about garbage generation and recycling habits with others from across the country and around the world. This collaboration will allow for greater learning by teaching students to work together to solve problems, increasing and promoting interdisciplinary study across the curriculum, and broadening their understanding and appreciation of different cultures and global environmental issues.

Procedure:

Students will record each standard (kitchen-size) bag of garbage that is thrown away by their household for one week. For the purposes of this project, we will assume that each bag of garbage weighs about the same as a one-gallon container of milk or four liter-size bottles of soda (8.5 lbs/3.8 kg). A form is provided here that you can print and distribute to your students. At the end of one week they will compile their results and, as a class, calculate the average amount of garbage thrown away by one house per week. If applicable, students should also indicate the number of bags of materials (and the types of materials) that were recycled by their households in the same given week. This data will be submitted as well, and it will provide a comparison of how much waste goes to the dump vs. how much is recycled.

The class averages will be submitted to the project web site to be posted. By viewing the collected data, students can compare their own class figures to the averages submitted by students in other classrooms. In this project students will add, multiply, divide and find averages, as well as apply critical thinking skills in analyzing the amount of garbage that we make and its impact on the environment.

Learning Goals

This project gives classrooms from all around the world the opportunity to join together and experience collaboration on an international scale. Students will understand where trash comes from and learn where it goes. By actually keeping track of how much is thrown away, they will begin to realize how much garbage goes into our landfills and learn that their actions have a strong impact on the environment.

Participants

Recommended for grades 4-8, but is open to anyone who is interested and all grade levels are welcome! Please feel free to forward this website to any classrooms that you think might be interested in participating!

Timeframe for Completion

Data will be collected during a one week period (7 consecutive days) and you can have your class begin the project immediately. At the end of the week they will compile their results and, as a class, calculate the average amount of garbage thrown away by one house per week . The class average will be submitted to the project web site (a form will be provided) to be posted. Data will be posted to the website as it is submitted and data collection will end on April 9th, 2007.

Activity Ideas

Project data collected on this website can be used for many different classroom activities. View some examples on the activities page. What a perfect way to celebrate and honor Earth Day!

Registration

If you would like to participate in The Garbage Project, please take a moment to register your class.

You can register online using the form provided here.

Or, if you prefer, you can register by email. Send an email to the project coordinator (thegarbageproject@gmail.com) with the following information:

  • Name of Contact (Teacher)
  • Email Address
  • Phone Number (not required)
  • School Name
  • School District
  • City
  • State/Province
  • Country
  • School Webpage (not required)
  • Grade Level
  • Number of Students
  • Subject Area(s)

Please be sure to put Garbage Project Registration in the subject line. I will send you a confirmation email within 24 hours of receiving your registration information.

See who has already registered by visiting the participants page.

Has your class already completed the week-long Garbage Project? Then it's time to submit your data!

You can use this form to submit your class data (or email it to me if you prefer). Please report only one set of data for each class. If more than one class in your school submits data, please differentiate the classes in the school name (for example, Hometown School Class #3). Data will be posted to the website as it is received. I look forward to receiving your class info!

Questions or comments? Feel free to contact Jennifer at thegarbageproject@gmail.com

Project Information | Learning Goals | Participants | Timeframe | Activity Ideas | Registration | Resources | Submit Data

Project Abstract | Reflective Summary

Back to Top

Updated April 20, 2007