By: Jennie Malonek @ Alhambra High School, LAUSD & and Sylvia Kliever @ Kentwood Elementary, LAUSD

Objective:

Students will consider actions that generate lunch trash. Students will examine ways which generate less lunch trash.

Materials:

LUNCH A
Lunch box containing a thermos of drink, a piece of fruit such as an apple, pear or plum, a sandwich container, chips and/or carrots and celery sticks in a reusable plastic container, napkin.

LUNCH B
Paper bag containing juice carton, sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap, bag of chips, Twinkie or fruit pie, banana, carrots or celery sticks wrapped in plastic wrap, and a pudding cup, napkin and spoon.

Procedure:

1. Examine the contents of each lunch. Discuss and estimate the amount of trash that will be generated by each lunch.
   
2. Record your estimates in grams on a student worksheet.
   
3. Devour food.
   
4. Weigh the non-recyclable/ reusable waste from each lunch.
   
5. Record your results on the student worksheet.

Concluding Questions:

1. Which lunch produced less trash?

2. Why did one lunch produce more trash than the other?

3. Why would students not bring the "less trash-producing" lunches to school?

4. How might you alter your lunch so that it produces less trash?

Extensions:

1. Design a Lunch box.

2. Using magazines or drawings, compose the perfectly packaged school lunch.

3. Do Supermarket Safari. (See Activity Sheet.)

How Long will
Litter Last?

Aluminum cans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 - 100 years

Glass bottles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,000,000 years

Plastic bags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 - 20 years

Plastic coated paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 years

Plastic film containers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 - 30 years

Nylon fabric. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 - 40 years

Rubber boot sole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 - 80 years

Leather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .up to 50 years

Wool sox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 5 years

Orange and banana peels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 - 5 weeks

Cigarette butts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 - 5 years