Recycling Foam Lunch Trays: By the Numbers
How much does the foam tray recycling program save our school each week? Use the following
worksheet to calculate the potential savings.
Trash collection fees per day
$40.00
Volume of trash that can be collected each day
100 cubic feet
Volume of each foam tray
0.25 cubic feet
If we assume that each student at our school uses a foam tray
each day, how many trays are used each week?
Not all trays can be recycled. If we recycle 90% of foam trays, how
many trays do we recycle each week?
What is the volume of these trays per week?
If we recycle these trays instead of throwing them away, how
many trash collection days would we save each week?
How much money in trash collection fees would we save each
week?
Do you think recycling foam trays is a good idea, based on your calculations?
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
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Yes
No
I’m not sure. I need more information.
Explain your answer to the previous question.