Plastic Problems and Sustainable Solutions

What is the problem with plastics? What made plastics turn from being the miracle container to hated garbage? You might have heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Watch the Trash Talk video by NOAA National Ocean Service to find out more about the problems with plastics in the oceans.

What did you discover? How does all of the plastic get into the ocean? What are some of the environmental and economic impacts of dumping plastic into the ocean? 

How do we solve this problem? This is a big problem that involves both producers and consumers. As a consumer, the best way to solve this problem is to lower your use of single use plastic. If you use single use plastic, make sure you deposit the containers in recycling bins. The worst possible decision is to throw your plastic on the ground, as you will discover in the TedEd video: The Life Cycle of a Plastic Bottle.

Before you watch, tell students that they will be hearing about the journeys of three plastic bottles. Ask students to take notes, documenting what happened to each of the bottles. 

What happened to the different bottles? So how does all of that plastic end up in the ocean? What can you do to educate people about the consequences of littering? 

Plastic bottles aren't the only single use plastic problem. Plastic is used extensively in packaging. What are some other ways we can reduce the amount of plastic? Put on your entrepreneurial thinking caps and join us in our Rethink Tank lesson. In this lesson, students learn about entrepreneurship and rethink the way things are made, used or disposed. They will examine current packaging problems we have that create a lot of waste. Then they will use design thinking to design a more sustainable solution. 

You can download a PowerPoint of the activity and the lesson below:

in_the_rethink_tank__1_.pptx
File Size:	32277 kb
File Type:	pptx

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rethink_tank_lesson_and_handouts.docx
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