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-2nd)
- 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
(3rd-6th)
- 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 (3rd-6th)
- 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-1st)
- 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-3rd)
- 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 (6th-12th)
- 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