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A Million Bottles a Minute

Workshop by Learning for a Sustainable Future

with support from HP

Closing the plastics loop

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Workshop Overview

Introduction to the Plastics Problem
Activity: Home Plastic Bingo
Activity: Hidden Plastics
Introduction to the Circular Economy
Highlight: Youth Taking Action
Activity: Commit to Making Changes
How can HP help?

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Introduction

01

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The biggest problem with plastic is that it doesn’t really ever break down, it just becomes smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. (National Geographic, 2019)

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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The biggest problem with plastic is that it doesn’t really ever break down, it just becomes smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. (National Geographic, 2019)

2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in the United States. (World Economic Forum, 2022)

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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The biggest problem with plastic is that it doesn’t really ever break down, it just becomes smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. (National Geographic, 2019)

2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in the United States. (World Economic Forum, 2022)

Plastic water bottles take an estimated 450 years to break down. (US National Park Service, 2018)

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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The biggest problem with plastic is that it doesn’t really ever break down, it just becomes smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. (National Geographic, 2019)

2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in the United States. (World Economic Forum, 2022)

Enough plastic is thrown away each year that it could circle around the earth four times! (National Geographic, 2018)

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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Microplastics are tiny plastic particles formed during plastic production or during the breakdown of larger plastics. They make their way into oceans and other bodies of water - making it really dangerous for both animals and humans.

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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Plastic water bottles take an estimated 450 years to break down. (US National Park Service, 2018)

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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About 6% of the world’s oil consumption is for plastic production. (British Plastics Federation, 2019)

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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About 6% of the world’s oil consumption is for plastic production. (British Plastics Federation, 2019)

So what’s the big deal?

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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About 6% of the world’s oil consumption is for plastic production. (British Plastics Federation, 2019)

So what’s the big deal?

Oil is a non-renewable resource, meaning that when we take it from the earth and use it to make things like plastic, it doesn’t naturally replace itself—it takes billions of years to form!

What is the reality of plastic pollution?

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Activity: �Home Plastics Bingo

02

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Activity: �Plastics in My Day

02

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Home Plastic Bingo

Go on an exploration around your house trying to cross off as many squares as you can!
On the back of your bingo sheet, write or draw all of the items that you found to match each clue.

So you should have a worksheet that looks like this, lets get that out and we can get started. On the front theres 12 squares with 12 different clues and on the back you should 12 blank squares.

For this activity, i want you to go around your house or your room or wherever you are and try to find as many items as you can that match the clues in the squares on the front and once you find them, either write or draw them on the blank squares on the back.

If youre wondering how do i know if something is plastic of not? If youre not sure you can try using a process of elimination, glass is often heavy and breakable, metal is cold and shiny, while plastic is usually lighter and not as easy to break. But if youre not sure its totally ok to guess and check in with a parent or sibling afterwards to make sure.

So now that we know what were doing, ill give you 3 minutes to do so. And ill play this timer so to help keep track of time

Mention halfway point

For those of you with your cameras on, do you wanna show everyone your sheet or something plastic that you found?

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In a typical day...

Each person needs a Plastics in My Day worksheet
In each section of the day write down as many things as you can think of that you use/play with/eat with/wear/see that are made of plastic!

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Wake up

Morning at school

Afternoon at school

After School

Evening

Lunch Break

After school

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Classroom activities

Recess

Write/Read

Play

Wake up

Brush teeth

Get dressed

Eat breakfast

Transportation

Eat lunch

Drink water

Play outside

Classroom activities

Recess

Eat dinner

Watch/Read/Play

Get ready for bed

Play outside

Transportation

After-school activities

Homework

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In a typical day...

Each person needs a My Day In Plastics worksheet
In each section of the day write down as many things as you can think of that you use/play with/eat/wear/see that are made of plastic!
Share with the person next to you. Did they write down anything you missed?

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Single Use

vs.

Reusable

03

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Single-Use or Reusable?

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In a typical day...

Each person needs a My Day In Plastics worksheet
In each section of the day write down as many things as you can think of that you use/play with/eat/wear/see that are made of plastic!
Share with the person beside you. Did they write down anything you missed?
Circle all of the single-use plastics

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Activity: �Hidden Plastics

03

There may be things that we use everyday that have plastic without us knowing!

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Hidden Plastics

Take out your items/cards.
Sort the items into two piles:

Items that contain plastic

Items that don’t contain plastic

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Hidden Plastics

Take out your items/cards.
Sort the items into two piles:

Items that contain plastic

Items that don’t contain plastic

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Hidden Plastics

Take out your items/cards...
Work together to sort the items into two piles: items that contain plastic and items that are plastic free!

There are things that we may be using every day that contain plastic and we don’t even know!

In small groups (3 or 4)...

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Hidden Plastics

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Hidden Plastics

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Hidden Plastics

Lets start with Receipts - the paper receipts are printed on are coated in BPA, a plastic-like chemical component that can be dangerous to us
Tea bags - Regular tea bags can have up to 30% of plastic to help hold the tea bag together while its in water while most pyramid tea bags are entirely made of plastic, making them not biodegradable
Shower Gel/Body Scrub - Many contain plastic microbeads as exfoliants that get washed down the drain and end up in our waterways. Some countries have banned them already but most havent.
Wet wipes - Most of these disposable cleaning cloths contain plastic fibres that won’t biodegrade. Even the wipes that are marked “flushable” still have plastic!
Fleece - Fleece is primarily made from polyester, a type of plastic. When these clothes are washed, they shed tiny plastic fibres that make their way into our waterways.
Toothpaste - some toothpaste have small microbeads added into them and the toothpaste tubes themselves are often made from plastic as well
Gum - many chewing gums add synthetic polymers similar to plastics to help provide the chewy texture of gum
Cotton Swabs - It’s easy to forget that a lot times the two pieces of cotton are connected by plastic!
Juice cartons are made of paper, but they have a plastic film to keep it from getting soggy
Finally Sea salt - this one surprised me too but there are so many microplastics in the sea, sea salt can actually have microplastics in them too

So as you can see, plastic is a huge part of our lives!

And we’re never going to get away from plastic completely, but we can definitely use less. The first step is being able to identify the sources!

Photo references:

https://d318ruy4trikge.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/paper-receipts.jpg

https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.4027383.1569233811!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg

https://cdn.mortonsalt.com/wp-content/uploads/morton-all-purpose-sea-salt-4-250x328.png

https://www.theplaidzebra.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/3_ban-microbeads.jpg

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/toothpaste-red-tube-isolated-white-background-60474752.jpg

http://www.alkalon.com/sites/default/files/styles/illustration/public/Few_blisters.jpg?itok=fE6FSFR3

https://i1.wp.com/www.acwtactical.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/qtips.jpg?fit=467%2C467&ssl=1

https://i0.wp.com/www.logostudioltd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/UC604-Black.jpg?fit=2400%2C3200&ssl=1

https://scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/s150x150/81693749_879463592512015_5826182416162619392_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_ohc=j6jrKz_En2UAX_zFOgM&oh=b21d0e96ac11f35a19b38207e5d7a81e&oe=5EA9B561

https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-triangle-tea-bag-yellow-260nw-467711804.jpg

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The Circular Economy

05

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LINEAR ECONOMY

DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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LINEAR ECONOMY

DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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LINEAR ECONOMY

DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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LINEAR ECONOMY

DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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CIRCULAR

ECONOMY

DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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CIRCULAR

ECONOMY

THE R’s

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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DECOMPOSE

CIRCULAR

ECONOMY

GROW

DIE

SPROUT

Fallen trees decompose and turn into nutritious soil

Trees grow

Trees die and fall down

Soil contains nutrients that allow trees to grow

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REDUCE

REUSE

RECYCLE

The 3 R’s

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REDUCE

REUSE

RECYCLE

REFUSE

(BUY) RECYCLED

RECLAIM

REPURPOSE

REFILL

REPAIR

RETURN

REGIFT

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DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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REGIFT/REUSE

RECLAIM

RECYCLE

DISPOSAL

RAW MATERIALS

PRODUCTION

USE

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Youth taking action

06

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YOUTH TAKING ACTION

Fort Richmond Collegiate: Single-Use to Reusable Forks

Front of Yonge Elementary:

Diverting Milk Cartons

Riverside Education Centre: Shoreline Cleanup

Students diverted 15,000 milk cartons from landfill by partnering with their local waste site for recycling!

Students hosted a shoreline cleanup where they removed 20 lb of garbage from their local river to raise awareness about pollution!

Students launched an initiative that replaced over 2,000 plastic forks with reusable metal ones.

For our first example, The REC Ocean Defenders at Riverside Education Centre hosted a shoreline cleanup at their local river where they ended up removing 20 pounds of garbage! The cleanup sparked countless conversations about pollution and how litter makes its way into the river.

For our second example, students at Fort Richmond Collegiate noticed that about 30 plastic forks were being thrown away every day at the cafeteria so they created a reusable system where students could use and drop off metal forks with their meals. This resulted in over 2000 plastic forks being saved in just 3 months.

For our last example, students at Front of Yonge Elementary realized that their school doesnt recycle milk cartons, so they were all going into the trash. They took the initiative to partner with their local waste site and ended up diverting 15,000 milk cartons from the landfill! And on top of that they even repurposed some of the milk cartons to grow plants.

These are just three examples of some amazing Action Projects happening in Canada. There are kids taking action ALL over the world.

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YOUTH TAKING ACTION

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Activity: �Commit to making changes

07

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What could you change?

Take out your Commitment to Action sheet - it’s time to commit to make changes!
Knowing what you now know about plastic, can you think of any places in your life where you could use less?
Look at your Home Plastic Bingo sheet and see if there’s anything you can reduce or switch to a reusable alternative!

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I commit to…

Spreading awareness & doing a shoreline or neighbourhood clean up with your family or your school
Being more mindful with your consumption. Before buying something, consider: do I really need this?
Before throwing something out, consider: can this be fixed? Do I really need to replace it?
Buying less new clothing, consider second-hand clothing!
Using alternatives to plastic wrap, single-use containers, plastic straws and single-use cups
Bringing my own reusable water bottle
Bringing reusable shopping bags
Picking up litter whenever I see it
Making sure that we are recycling properly (not all recycling systems are the same - look up your local recycling guidelines)

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How can HP help?

HP is helping to make our economy more circular through design, repair, reuse and recycling electronics in 76 countries so that products and materials can be repurposed.

Learn how to recycle your electronics at www.hp.com/recycle

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Thanks!

This workshop was created by Learning for a Sustainable Future, a Canadian charity�

It was generously funded by HP, one of the world leaders in sustainability according to Corporate Knight’s Global 100 Ranking for 2020

Find more plastic resources and other sustainability resources at LSF’s award winning resource database: R4R.ca

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik.