Waste Management/Recycling

The Imagination Factory is a site that launched as an outgrowth of artist and teacher Marilyn Brackney's classroom. The purpose of the site is to teach children and their caregivers creative ways to recycle by making art. The lessons and activities include drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, papier-mache, marbling, and crafts.

Earth911.com privately owned company that specializes in providing consumers with accessible and actionable recycling information across the country. Visitors to the site can easily perform a search by zip code or address to find a recycling center for any given material.

Conservatree is an organization that offers expert advice and leadership on paper choices.

Keep America Beautiful (KAB) is an organization dedicated to preventing litter, reducing waste, and beautifying communities. The site provides a multitude of resources to address these issues.

The mission of OurEarth.org is to engage, empower, and nurture current and future environmental leaders by providing education and access to information. OurEarth.org combines a novel combination of grassroots activism, education, and internet technology to achieve its goals.

Students will broaden their awareness about conserving natural resources while learning to make recycled paper. They will identify what resources are made into paper, discuss the value of intact forests, and determine ways to use less paper. This lesson is best suited for grades K-4 and adheres to California Science Content Standards.

Students examine what they already know about computer recycling, consider how it contributes to a global toxic waste problem, research what parts of computers are made of, and write persuasion papers asking local businesses or organizations to develop or participate in computer recycling programs. This lesson adheres to McRel Academic Technology, Science, and Language Arts Standards.

In this lesson, students investigate what happens to commonly used items and products once they are thrown away or sent to be recycled. Students analyze and understand the relationship between a product's ingredients and its effects on the environment and the health of all living things on Earth. This lesson adheres to McRel Academic Science and Geography Standards.

In this lesson, students invent a product that consists only of biodegradable materials they can find in their homes or outside. This lesson is best suited for grades 6-8 and adheres to McRel Technology and Geography Academic Standards.

In this lesson, students consider the life cycle of certain plastics products and propose improved recycling legislation in their own communities. This lesson adheres to McRel Academic Geography Standards.