Trash and Recycling Worksheets and Activities

30+page Trash and Recycling Unit!

This spring, we have been focusing on Environmental Studies. We just finished up a new unit on Trash and Recycling. This 30-page unit including worksheets and activities to help students learn what happens to our trash, what can be recycled, plastics, and more!

• What happens to our trash? Learn what percentage of trash is placed in landfills, burned or recycled.
• Find out what can be recycled in your area.
• Find out amazing facts such as — Last year about 36 billion aluminum cans were placed in landfills. And… in the United States, we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour!
• Find out what do those recycle numbers mean.
• Learn about plastic in our oceans.
• Learn about composting.
• Learn what products can be made from recycled goods
• and much more!!

We learned so much about waste management and recycling not only on a national and global level, but also right here in our local vicinity!

The new Trash and Recycling Unit includes notebook pages, worksheets, activities and a Trash & Recycling Booklet.

My daughter started this unit with the Trash & Recycling Booklet.  She ♥ loved that and spent a lot of time coloring in the booklet.  This booklet has tracing, so it is an activity students can do independently.

Trash and Recycling Worksheets and Notebook Pages:

We then went on to talk about various topics with the trash & recycling worksheets. I used these with all three of my kids (11, 13, 15) and we all learned a lot!  Some of the topics we talked about (in our notebook pages) include

• What happens to our garbage? (with questions that have students find out what happens on a local level)
• What can be recycled
• Disposing of hazardous materials
• Why it’s important to recycle
• Statistics and facts about recycling aluminum
• Statistics and facts about recycling Plastics
• Recycling Numbers (on plastics) and what each of these 7 types of plastics can be made into if recycled
• Plastics in our Oceans
• Composting
• What products can be made from recycled materials?

Trash and Recycling Activities

Recycling Plastics: I think we all learned SO much about recycling plastics. (I was always a little baffled by those numbers before we did this unit!)  We went over what how those plastic recycling numbers came about, what they mean, what materials are used and what products can be made out of these recycled goods.  There is a notebook page and a cut-and-paste activity. We actually stuck one of them on the fridge to help us remember! 🙂

Finally, there is a Sort Your Trash Activity. It includes worksheets with a section for “special handling” because in many areas there are items that should not be placed in the trash or in recycling bins. We used the Recycle/Trash Worksheet that you see below, but there are also colored bins if you want to use that with your students. Let me know if there’s something slightly different that would suit your needs better. 🙂

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This Trash and Recycling Unit is 30+ pages.

Trash and Recycling Unit Quick Preview

When I first release a new packet, I like to offer them at a discount. The Water Cycle unit is currently 50% off.  This is the second of three new Environmental Studies Units that I’m doing with the kids. (We also did a unit on the Water Cycle and we will finish up with Renewable/Nonrenewable Energy & the Carbon Cycle.)

After payment, you should receive an email from SendOwl (the delivery service I use) almost immediately with the download link. Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link! If you have any problems or questions, just email me Liesl at homeschoolden dot com or use the contact form.

I hope you enjoy the Trash & Recycling Unit and learn as much as we did! 🙂

The Trash and Recycling Packet is $4.99.

Trash and Recycling Packet

$4.99

Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link!

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Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link!

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Happy Homeschooling!

~Liesl

You can find out more about the Water Cycle Unit here:

You might also want to find out more about our various Earth Science Units