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Educational site with lesson plans and videos for K-12 students to teach them about waste and recycling. Also includes a very detailed interactive tour of a materials recovery facility (MRF), a glossary of recycling terms, and links to other sites.

Each person in the United States generates five or more pounds (2.3 kilograms) of waste a day: about the weight of a medium bag of sugar. More than half of that garbage is buried and stored in landfills. Increasingly, however, cities are promoting recycling programs, often getting schools involved so students can learn about recycling and follow these practices at home. A person in a Scandinavian country (such as Sweden, Denmark, or Norway) generates about the same amount of waste as an American. People in developing countries generate less waste than Americans or Europeans; for example, a person in India generates about three-fourths of a pound (0.34 kilograms) per day. Still, every country must find a way to process the garbage that each of its residents generates every day, month, and year.

In the past, sailors on whaling ships would carve whale teeth into works of art in a process called scrimshaw. These pieces would be brought home to loved ones as mementos of the voyage. Design incubator Studio Swine is attempting to recycle found materials and turn this aged art form into a more sustainable practice. In this short film, travel to remote parts of the ocean, where "the closest people are in a space station," and watch as the process of collecting ocean trash and transforming it into beautiful treasure unfolds.

Sweden is able to recycle 99% of their trash, some of which they burn. Why isn't this practiced in the United States?

In this project, students will be asked to actually measure the amount of waste that they generate in a week's time (identifying single-use plastic or not) and devise creative ways in which the can reduce, reuse and/or recycle to take an active role in their environment.

With several facilities already producing fruits and vegetables, AppHarvest is set to become a national leader in alternative farming through their cutting edge indoor technology that saves space, recycles water, and produces 30 times more food than a conventional farm.

This interrupted case study tells the story of Miles, a freshman in college, who volunteers to help with the composting program on campus. Miles is excited about composting but his mother is hesitant to try it at home. Miles learns about the key ingredients for successful composting and his mother eventually begins to see its value. This case is presented in four parts, and can be used with or without the PowerPoint presentation and associated clicker questions (see Supplemental Materials). First, students are asked to analyze waste that they generate at home and identify any material that is compostable. Next, students explore the science of composting. Finally, students explore the topic of human manure to consider composting to the extreme. The case was designed for an environmental science course for non-majors; no prerequisite knowledge is assumed.

Lauren is an Environmental Studies graduate from NYU and former Sustainability Manager at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the amount of trash that she has produced over the past three years can fit inside of a 16 oz. mason jar. Lauren Singer is author of the Zero Waste blog, Trash is for Tossers and founder of organic cleaning product company, The Simply Co. Through her blog, she has empowered millions of readers to produce less waste by shopping package-free, making their own products and refusing plastic and single-use items.