‘Smart’ Recycling Unit
Uncover the 4 hurdles we face in recycling, and how AI and “smart” technology are presenting solutions.
Explore the life cycle of waste material from first use, to recycling, to a new life and new uses.
Design & engineer your own smart bin to help us sort materials correctly while making it a fun game!
Learn the basic mistakes we all make in recycling first hand in a fun outdoor relay race activity.
The unit begins with the
Teacher Resource Kit
This kit helps you and your class explore recycling, with particular attention to AI and ‘smart’ technology working to make our efforts more effective and efficient.
Teacher Resources
These resources include a detailed teacher's guide with step-by-step instructions for each lesson, background reading materials to enhance teachers' understanding of recycling and smart technologies, and access to multimedia resources like videos and interactive activities. Additionally, the kit provides printable materials, quizzes, and a glossary of terms aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to ensure that all content is educational, engaging, and scientifically accurate.
Art Lesson Plan
The art lesson included in the kit allows students to explore recycling through creative expression. The project involves students creating a storybook from the perspective of a recyclable item, tracing its journey through the recycling process and its transformation into a new product. This lesson emphasizes artistic skills while teaching about the lifecycle of recycled materials, aiming to foster a deeper understanding and emotional connection to recycling among young learners.
STEAM Lesson Plan
The STEAM lesson is a central feature of the kit, designed to immerse students in an engineering challenge that involves designing their own version of a smart recycling bin or a smart sorting center. This lesson integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics to encourage students to conceive, design, and prototype a green technology solution. The activities encourage students to apply their knowledge of recycling and sustainability to real-world engineering problems, promoting critical thinking and innovation.
Activity Lesson Plan
Finally, students participate in a recycling relay race that involves sorting various recyclable materials correctly under time pressure. This exercise not only reinforces the importance of proper recycling practices but also highlights the physical and cooperative aspects of waste management. The lesson plan includes detailed instructions, safety guidelines, and suggestions for adapting the activity to different learning environments, ensuring that all students can participate and learn effectively.
Preview the
Video Series
Meet the Boneheads!
Bonehead's Impossible Mission: Recyclable
Mission: Recyclable - Part 1
Bonehead’s mountain climbing vacation is cut short after a mole in JP Rothbone’s organization informs HOPE Headquarters of his next nefarious plot. It seems revenues at JP’s landfill are down ever since the local recycling center opened next door. People are recycling all their paper, plastic, metal and glass instead of throwing it in the garbage!
Mission: Recyclable - Part 2
Back at HOPE Headquarters, Bonehead and Pa Fossil discuss the problem they face rescuing the recycling center. Everything seems hopeless until Wishbone appears with some very important intel!
Mission: Recyclable - Part 3
Bonehead and his smart team swing into action on a nearly impossible mission: stop JP & his sniveling cronies before they are able to sabotage the recycling machines and detour all that recycling back to the landfill.
It’s Your Planet Too!
Understanding Recycling & Its 4 Main Problems
The Basics of Smart Recycling
This video takes a closer look at why recycling is crucial in our daily lives. As humans, our everyday activities—from eating snacks to unwrapping new toys—generate a significant amount of waste, most of which ends up in landfills. But there's a brighter side to this story: recycling. This process isn't just about sorting waste; it's about transforming our old items into new treasures, although it's not without its challenges.
Rethinking Rubbish: Landfills, Recycling, and Our Planet
Discover how the old solution of dumping waste into landfills, once considered innovative, has significant environmental drawbacks, from releasing methane—a potent greenhouse gas—to polluting our precious soil and water sources. But there's hope on the horizon! Recycling emerges as a superhero in this narrative, offering a second life to what we discard and reducing our reliance on landfills.
Why Recycling Isn't a Cure-All: Unpacking the Hurdles
In this enlightening segment, we delve into the inherent challenges that recycling faces, focusing on why some people don't recycle and the mistakes that can occur when they do. Despite its benefits, recycling isn't always straightforward—sorting can be confusing, and small errors can lead to bigger problems, contaminating the recycling stream and diminishing the effectiveness of the process.
Recycling's Roadblocks: Efficiency and Market Demand
This segment explores two significant obstacles in the recycling chain: the limitations of current recycling centers and the market demand for recycled materials. Even when individuals recycle correctly, outdated or overwhelmed recycling centers can struggle to process materials efficiently, leading to bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Additionally, the video addresses why it's crucial for industries to embrace recycled materials to close the loop of recycling.
Think Like Engineers!
How ‘Smart’ Technology & AI Make Recycling Better
How to Get More People Into Recycling with Gamification and “Smart” Bins
In this segment, we're exploring how the principles behind smartphones can revolutionize recycling through 'gamification' and smart bins. These aren't just ordinary bins; they're equipped with the technology to differentiate between recyclable and non-recyclable waste, rewarding users with points for correct recycling actions, much like a game.
The Future of Recycling: AI-Powered Solutions
In this segment, we're exploring how the principles behind smartphones can revolutionize recycling through 'gamification' and smart bins. These aren't just ordinary bins; they're equipped with the technology to differentiate between recyclable and non-recyclable waste, rewarding users with points for correct recycling actions, much like a game.
You Have the Power!
You Can Help Improve Recycling Efforts
“Recycling! Recycling!” Music Video
The "You Have the Power!" song is an engaging and lively tune that highlights the importance of recycling, encouraging kids to actively participate in protecting the environment. It stresses the necessity of recycling everyday items like bottles, cans, and paper, and introduces a fun twist by noting that not everything, like spaghetti, is recyclable.
NGSS Alignment
Grade 3
For grade 3, this unit aligns with NGSS by introducing the environmental impacts of human activities, particularly recycling. Through engaging videos and interactive lessons, students learn how their actions affect natural habitats and biodiversity, fostering a sense of responsibility for the environment from a young age.
Grade 4
In grade 4, the curriculum deepens understanding of how recycling affects Earth's systems, prompting students to think about energy use and ecological balance. It encourages critical thinking about the role of technology in environmental solutions, enhancing their grasp of how human actions interconnect with environmental health.
Grade 5
Grade 5 focuses on the science of materials, exploring the properties that affect recycling processes. Students apply scientific principles to real-world issues, discussing how different materials are recycled and the scientific reasoning behind effective recycling methods.
Engineering & Design Grades 3-5
Across grades 3-5, the "Engineering & Design" standards are met through STEAM lesson plans and videos that encourage problem-solving and design. Students engage in the engineering process, from problem identification to creating prototypes, emphasizing engineering's critical role in addressing environmental challenges and advancing sustainable solutions.
