Teacher guide for running a school recycling waste audit. Includes timeline, safety steps, materials list, and tips for analyzing contamination data.
Recycling Waste Audit
Summary
In this week-long project, student teams conduct a hands-on recycling waste audit at their school, sorting bin contents, weighing contaminants, and calculating real contamination percentages. The packet includes a Teacher Guide with full procedural support and a print-ready Student Handout with data sheets, reflection questions, and a letter-to-the-principal action plan. Built for middle or high school science, it connects classroom data collection to real-world waste management systems.
Activities
Handout
Student worksheet for a recycling waste audit. Teams sort and weigh bin contents, calculate contamination rates, analyze results, and write an action plan.
Audio
EarthDate Extension – Global Smartphones. This audio and reading resource provides additional context on how dozens of elements come together to power modern devices and why global supply chains and resources matter.
Downloadables