Lesson Title: Trash Dissection
Discipline Focus: Resource use and disposal
Grade level: High School Biology
Length of lesson: Two class periods
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Content Standard(s):
Understanding (s)/goals
Students will understand:
Where their trash goes
How their trash is disposed of
How much their community recycles
What their impacts on the earth are
Essential Question(s):

What percentage of local waste is
recycled?

What percentage of local waste
could be recycled?

What are the impacts of their
resource use?

What choices could they make to
reduce their waste production?
Student objectives (outcomes):
Students will be able to:
Understand the impacts of their waste disposal choices and the effects that disposing of
their waste has on the environment.
How commercial and industrial business produce waste making trade goods
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Task(s):
Other Evidence:
Compete assessment of home waste

Graph of consumables from their
production
house broken down by type and
Complete worksheet of waste effects at
disposal options
local, regional, and world level

Statement of how their impacts
Create graph of waste production and
affect the global community
recyclable items
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Learning Activities:
Day 1
Introduction to waste production in Minnesota and the United States
Topics covered:
 Where does our local waste go?
 How is it disposed of?
 How much waste is produced here in Duluth, all of Minnesota, The United
States?
 What is the composition of our waste?
Activity: Waste Dissection
Materials:
 Waste from three commercial and three residential locations
 Gloves
 Plastic sheeting
 Scale
 Garbage bags or buckets to sort waste into
Procedure:
Class is broken into two groups. One group is assigned to a commercial source and
one group is assigned to a residential source. Each group is given a workspace that
is covered with plastic sheeting. All students receive gloves, and each group is given
buckets for each of the waste categories (glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum,
food, and trash or recyclables can be grouped together).
The groups will weigh total trash load and make predictions based on the source of
the trash as to how much of its contents will fall into each category. The groups
then sort the trash into the containers provided. Each container is then weighed and
the groups will graph their results in a pie chart. Class data will be compiled for all
classes to be displayed on the second day.
Trash will be properly disposed of and the students will be given time to clean-up
and wash their hands.
Home Waste Analysis worksheets are handed out so that students can examine the
amount of waste that their family creates. Home waste can be estimated.
Day 2
Review main points from day 1.
How much waste do we produce annually in your area, and in the United States?
What is the impact of this waste on the environment?
Ask students to give examples of their calculated National total waste based on the
amount of waste their produced in one week. This number will usually be much
smaller than the actual annual production of the US.
Ask the students to discuss some of the reasons that their number is smaller than
the US Government estimates.
Some hypothesis posed could be:
They are more responsible than the average person.
They estimated wrong
Other people are wasteful
---Commercial and Industrial waste that goes into making and shipping products
for us are not included in these totals---
In-class waste dissection: data sheet
Names:
Source:
Weight of total refuse: ___________
Estimation of contents by weight for each category:
Glass ________
Plastic ________
Paper ________
Cardboard________
Aluminum________
Food ________
Trash ________
Actual weight of each category from sample:
Glass ________
Plastic ________
Paper ________
Cardboard________
Aluminum________
Food ________
Trash ________
Pie chart of your sample:
(Shade recyclable materials in green, trash in brown and compostable materials in red)
Home waste analysis
____________________
Number of People in your family: _____
Name:
Amount of solid waste (trash and recycling) your family generates each week
_______lbs.
Estimate by weight, of waste in each category:
Glass ________
Plastic ________
Paper ________
Cardboard________
Aluminum________
Food ________
TRASH________
Pie chart of waste generated by your household
How does your pie chart compare with the one we created in class?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
____
Amount of waste generated by you________ lbs.
(Amount of waste generated by your house/ # people in your house)
Assuming that everyone in Duluth created the same amount of TRASH you do, how
much would go to the landfill every week?
________lbs (Your TRASH x 87,000 people)
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The State of Minnesota?
________lbs (Your TRASH x 5,170,000 people)
The United States of America?
________lbs (Your TRASH x 300,000,000 people)
What would be the total weight of trash produced in one year in the United States if
everyone lived as you do?
________lbs.
This number is likely smaller than the number given in class. What additional sources of
waste are produced to provide you with what you want, that do not end up on your
curb?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
____
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