Solid Waste School Program

The Solid Waste Youth Program offers a variety of interactive lessons, focused on Solid Waste Management topics such as recycling, composting, and landfills. All lessons will be presented virtually. We are open to adapt any of the listed lessons to best fit your classroom needs. You can contact us at jse67@cornell.edu

Partial funding to support this program is provided by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation with additional funding from the Broome County Division of Solid Waste Management to provide free education to Broome County residents. Groups must be a part of Broome County to participate.

Recycling Lessons

How Paper is Made (K-2^nd)

• Paper plays an important role in our lives from books, coloring sheets, cardboard, and more. We will learn how we paper is made and how recycling helps save trees. 
• How Paper is Made Lesson

When Trash Comes Back (3^rd-6^th)

• Discover where our trash comes from, how it connects to our natural resources and the environmental impact. Students will be fully engaged with vivid visuals, short videos, and easy to understand analogies. Get the inside scoop on what’s recyclable in Broome County, how recycling is handled, and the products (some extremely unique) created as a result.
• Request When Trash Comes Back Lesson

How a Landfill Works (3^rd-6^th)  

• When we throw something "away" where does it go? The landfill! We will discover how landfills are built to keep our communities clean and protect the surrounding environment. We will take a virtual tour of the Broome County Landfill where all waste in the county is sent.  
• Request How a Landfill Works Lesson

Siting Yoretown Landfill (6th -12th)

• Landfills play a vital role by holding our waste and keeping it safe from the surrounding environment. We will take a deeper dive into how landfills are constructed and how they can impact nearby communities. Youth will put their knowledge to practice by acting as the advisory group to Yoretown’s city council determine the best location of a new landfill. Each group will weigh the environmental and social impacts of a proposed site and will present their findings.
• Request Siting Yoretown Landfill Lesson

Dangerous Waste (6th -12th)

• Laptops, phones, tablets, and other electronic devices are essentials in our lives. However, improper disposal can be disastrous. We will explore electronic waste's explosive past and work together on solutions to promote proper electronic waste recycling
• Request Dangerous Waste Lesson

Composting Lessons

Compost Stew with Worm Bin Discovery (Pre-K-1^st)

• Literacy and Science come together! Discover the “ingredients” for compost through an interactive read-aloud of Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary Mckenna Siddals. This rhyming story provides the perfect lead-in to an up-close discovery of “Compost Stew” and the wiggly creatures that help create it.
• Request Compost Stew

Garbage Helps our Garden Grow with Compost Creatures Discovery (K-3^rd)

• Literacy and Science come together! Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story by Linda Glaser is an easy to follow, non-fiction piece with vivid step-by-step photos to share nature’s own form of recycling. We will explore the creatures that make composting possible through video.
• Request Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow

Compost Creatures (6^th-12^th)

• We all know that paper, plastic, glass, and metal can be recycled, but what about food scraps? Learn more about outdoor composting- how it affects our ecological footprint and the creatures that play a key role in the process. Students can explore a supplemental interactive guide with videos of these creatures up close.
• Request Compost Creatures

Not seeing what you're looking for? Contact us to discuss options. 

Last updated October 28, 2020