Last name _____________ First name _____________ Mailbox _____ Points ___/___
Solid Waste
Answer these questions with your partner or group. Be prepared to discuss them.
Ask me if you need help. Use your dictionaries!
Solid waste is also called "trash", "garbage", or "rubbish" (British English). Things we put in a recycle bin are not usually called waste, trash or garbage.
A. There are six ways to reduce and manage solid waste: incinerate it without "energy recovery", incinerate it with "energy recovery", landfill it, reuse, reduce, recycle.
Rank these six options from best to worst (1 = best option) and be prepare to explain your answer
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B. Answer these questions about the incinerator we visited Wednesday.
Where does the solid waste come from that is burned?
Who owns and operates the incinerator?
What types of solid waste are burned there?
What kind of energy does the incinerator produce and where does it go?
C. In the United States, MSW or "Municipal Solid Waste" (municipal means city or town) mostly consists of these things. Guess what people in the U.S. throw away. Rank them from the most to the least (1 = largest amount/most and 7 = smallest amount/least. (One category is much bigger than the others!)
___ Yard/garden Trimmings
___ Wood
___ Paper
___ Plastics
___ Glass
___ Rubber, Leather, and Textiles
___ Food Scraps
___ Metals
D. Culture and waste
The meaning of "waste" is different in different cultures and for different generations. "Wasting time," "wasting money," "wasting good food", "wasting an opportunity", or "being wasteful" have a very negative meaning to some people in some cultures; to others, the meaning isn't so negative or may have no meaning at all.
These different ideas of waste frequently impact environmental decision-making in societies.
How about for you?
Bad! |
Sort of bad |
I don't care |
It's good sometimes |
|
| Wasting paper, food, plastic, etc. | ||||
| Wasting time | ||||
| Wasting an opportunity | ||||
| Wasting money |
F. Questions you have? Things you would like to say?