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Students will review and refresh their knowledge of recycling and the negative effects on the environment without recycling best practices. They will also be introduced to the concept of “waste leakage” as a result of not recycling and mismanagement of recyclables.

They will work in small groups or individually to create a “Waste Hero” story with a message to inform, inspire, and encourage others to take action against waste in our environment. Students will move through a series of exercises to help them think through and develop the core message of their story to help inspire others to take action.

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Display the lesson slides for the class and create a discussion about what they already know about recycling and introduce the concept or waste leakage and ocean bound waste. Ask students the guiding questions in the PowerPoint slide notes.

Print out the “YES/NO” handout, the “Storyboard“, and the “Story Planner” handout.

Gather all kinds of art supplies and poster boards (1 per group or per student)

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Lesson Prep & Curriculum Alignment

Prep time: 10 – 15 minutes

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Key Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Alignment:

• Science - Earth and Human Activity: Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment. Things that people do can affect the world around them. But they can make choices that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things.
• English Language Arts and Literacy: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about topics and texts. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions. Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.

SDG Alignment

Lesson Prep & Curriculum Alignment

Prep time: 10 – 15 minutes

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The Lesson

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Introduce the lesson to your students by asking about their knowledge of what can and cannot be recycled. Display the “YES/NO” slide or print the handout as a reference.

• Create an open discussion about the basics of recycling.
• Do you recycle?
• What can be recycled?
• What cannot be recycled?
• Ask for them to give a few examples of each.

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Give them 5min to search the class for plastic bottles to put into the new bin.

Lesson duration: 25 - 30 minutes

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Students will create a Waste Hero story to inspire and influence others to take action against waste in the environment. Students will take notes of recycling best practices, waste statistics and facts to support the main message of their story. Use the story design slides and the Story Planner and Storyboard handouts to help them create their story.

Print out the “Story Planner” and the “Storyboard” handouts for the students to fill out in class. Students will likely need 4 or more storyboard handouts to create their story. They can work in a group or individually and you can also extend the lesson by having them write out their story from their storyboard and share it with the class.

Prepare the PowerPoint presentation

When you are ready to present the lessons to your class click on Slide Show on the top menu bar then select Presenter View. In Presenter view, you can see your notes as you present while the audience see only your slides.

The notes appear in a pane on the right. The text should wrap automatically, and a vertical scroll bar appears if necessary. You can also change the size of the text in the Notes pane by using the two buttons at the lower left corner of the Notes pane.

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YES

NO

Always recycle:

Never recycle:

Glass jar

PET Plastic bottle

Cardboard box

Metal can

Banana peel

Dirty napkin

Light bulb

Juice box

Toys

Plastic bag

Pencil

Shoes

Garden hose

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Create A “Waste Hero” Story

Create a story based on your Waste Hero and a “call to action” to inspire and inform others to reduce waste in the environment and to save the world.

Your story should:

• Inform others about what can be recycled in your area
• Inspire your audience to recycle more and how to do it better
• Create a storyboard that can be made into a written story or film
• Your main character should be your “Waste Hero”

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How do we prevent waste leakage into our environment?

Practice The 3 Steps to Recycling

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Know what you can recycle

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Empty, clean, and dry before putting in the bin.

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Put recyclables into the correct recycling bin.

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What is your Waste Hero’s Message to Inform and Inspire?

If your recycling container smells, it is contaminated

If you can poke your finger through it,

do not recycle it

Never recycle anything smaller than an ID card

Separate

combined materials

Keep your recyclables dry – less than a teaspoon of liquid

Recycling Best

Practices & Tips

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Ocean Waste

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Nearly half of the world's turtles have eaten plastic waste.

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How much ocean waste is mistakenly eaten by ocean animals?

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Recycling Tips we can share to inspire others to recycle.

Find the #1PET on the bottom of plastic bottles and recycle it. PET plastic bottles are fully recyclable.

Recycle items into the correct recycling bin where you see the recycling symbol.

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Recycling Tips we can share to inspire others to recycle.

Do not put food in the recycling bin. Wet and dirty recycling items cannot be collected.

Use less single use materials like plastic bags and plastic straws we only use one time.

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More facts for inspiration

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It takes nearly 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose in a landfill.

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It takes glass about 4,000 years to decompose in a landfill.

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There is a huge “garbage island” floating in the ocean 2x the size of the state of Texas.

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Human generated waste has been found in the deepest part of the ocean, and at the tallest mountain peak in the world.

PET Plastic is the most recycled plastic in the world.

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What is your “Waste Hero’s” message to inspire?

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How to design your story

Setting: Introduce your setting with a short paragraph

• Where are your characters?
• What is the time?
• What can they see

Dialogue: Write your character’s name before they speak

• Indicate when your characters are speaking with parenthesis. e.g. “We should recycle more” said Mark.

Title: Give your story a title.

• Make it short and catchy

Characters: Write two sentences to introduce your character(s).

• e.g. Recycleman is from the planet Plasto 5 lightyears from earth. He can fly at the speed of light and travels to earth to help children at schools learn about recycling plastic.

Main message:

• Do not try to say too much at once.
• Choose one or two simple main messages to encourage people to recycle.
• Support your message with interesting stats and facts from this lesson.

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Map Out Your Ideas

Recycleman fights to keep the world recycling and to keep the environment healthy.

Trashman sneaks into schools to tell students they do not need to recycle and to just throw all waste in the same trash bin

Does Recycleman need a side kick?

Twist in the story:

Recycleman was captured and locked deep inside the stinky and toxic landfill by Trashman

Recycleman must avoid his biggest enemy Trashman

Recycleman faces many challenges such as people who litter, their poor recycling knowledge, and Trashman who wants all waste to go to his secret, scary landfill.

Possible titles:

• Recycleman and the Landfill of Doom
• The Age of Waste
• Trashman Attacks

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Make a List of the Key Events

It was a cold dark night on planet Plastico when Recycleman got a call from earth.

Trashman has invaded local schools to tell

kids not to recycle.

Recycleman had to fly to earth and wage a battle against Trashman.

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Recycleman found a select group of student activists to set up more recycling around the world’s schools.

Recycleman fought Trashman at the secret, scary landfill and was captured and buried deep below the trash.

The student activists found enough recycling to build a giant shovel to uncover and save Recycleman.

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Write Your Story To Persuade

A relatable story

Repeat your message

Use facts to support the message

Use some humor

Get your audience to understand the problems of not recycling through your Waste Hero story.

e.g., If Trashman wins the battle more waste will harm our environments we live in.

Repeating your message throughout your story is an effective way to ensure your audience remembers.

e.g., Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Using facts and figures is an effective way to validate your message. Some data points can really help illustrate the problem.

e.g., It takes a glass jar 4,000 years to decompose in a landfill.

Grab the reader’s attention with humor which can make them more open to your message.

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Story Planner

Use this story planner to help create your story

Title of your story:

Audience

Who will read your story?

Write one thing your audience needs to know about recycling to help them recycle more and better.

Main message

What is the overall message in your story to influence your audience to recycle more?

Key characters

List your main character(s) below. Write a sentence to describe your character(s).

Setting

Describe the location of where your story takes place.

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Create A Storyboard

Draw a picture in each box of the events in your story. Write a description under each picture.

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Example Storyboard