
Grades 9-12
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The amount of trash produced in the United States is mounting with each passing year. Communities are finding it increasingly difficult and costly to handle trash disposal. Recycling is considered a key solution to the garbage problem. In this lesson, students explore the extent to which various types of solid waste contribute to the problem. They then assume the role of city managers who must choose recycling programs that will fit within a community’s financial constraints. Students use marginal analysis to determine the most cost-effective solutions.
Hold up the waste basket in your classroom or show students Visual 1. Ask your students what they call the “stuff” that goes in the basket or can. Write their answers on the board or on the visual. Explain to the students that whatever they call the stuff in the can — trash, garbage, refuse, solid waste, etc. — that stuff is going to be the focus of the lesson.
Explain that economists call the stuff in the can a negative externality. An externality is a side effect that results when production or consumption affects persons other than those directly involved in the production or consumption process. When the side effect is detrimental to other people — aka “third parties” — the externality is negative. Ask the students:
Introduce the activities that follow. These activities will help the students to identify the “stuff” that is contributing to our nation’s solid waste problem. They students then will explore recycling options that communities may use for reducing solid waste. They will be asked to take on the job of city manager for a community named “Dumptown.” Dumptown wants to become “Recycle City.” Like most governments, Dumptown can’t adopt all the programs it might like to have. An analysis of https://econedlink.org/glossary/?glossary=M and Marginal Benefit will help Downtown officials to make the most of the city’s limited funding for recycling programs.
Divide the class into teams of 2-4 students to work at computer stations.
Activity: What’s in Our Trash?
As an introduction to the solid waste thrown away in the United States, the students play an interactive game in which they must rank various wastes. Correct responses are as follows:
Paper | 40.4% | 71.6 tons |
Yard Trimmings | 17.6% | 31.6 tons |
Metals | 8.8% | 16.3 tons |
Plastics | 8.0% | 14.4 tons |
Food Scraps | 7.4% | 13.2 tons |
Glass | 7.0% | 12.6 tons |
Other | 11.6% | 10.8 tons |
After the game, ask the students are then asked to think about what they have just discovered.
Activity: DumpTown Recycles
The students are told that the residents of a hypothetical city named Dumptown are concerned about the cost of getting rid of garbage and its negative impact on the environment. The town has decided it wants to recycle more of its solid waste.
City Council members have visited other communities and identified ten different ways in which they can increase recycling in Dumptown. Taking on the role of city manager, your students must choose Dumptown’s new recycling programs.
Like most communities, Dumptown’s financial resources are limited. The city won’t be able to implement all of the ideas that are on the City Council’s recycling wish list. To make a selection, the students must consider the https://econedlink.org/glossary/?glossary=M and marginal benefit of each program. The marginal benefit is the increase in the tons of trash recycled as each new program is introduced, while the marginal cost is the dollar cost of introducing a new program. You may want to give the students the definition of marginal cost and marginal benefit. Marginal benefit is the additional gain from consuming or producing one more unit of a good or service; it can be measured in dollars or satisfaction. https://econedlink.org/glossary/?glossary=M is the increase in a producer’s total cost when it increases its output by one unit.
Since the programs have different marginal costs and benefits, explain to the students that they must establish a standardized means to compare the programs. The worksheet uses the average cost for reducing waste by one ton. This is calculated by dividing the cost of each program by the tons of solid waste that will be eliminated. The goal for students is to select the programs that reduce solid waste tonnage for the fewest dollars.
Students are directed to use this worksheet to help them do their job. The worksheet provides directions and helps students use cost-benefit analysis. Here are the answers for the worksheet.
Before they start to answer the questions on the worksheet, the students are also instructed to read these https://www3.epa.gov/recyclecity/gameintro.htm , which will provide more information useful in playing the Dumptown Game.
When they are ready to play, they go to this web page
As the students play the game, they may discover that some benefits and costs vary depending on which other programs have already been selected. The “Pay as You Throw” option is dependent on what other programs are chosen. For this reason and because there is no cost associated with the option, students are encouraged to select this option last.
A similar variance was found when upgrading the Home Recycling Pickup. If this option is selected early, the reduction in weight can be as much as 19 ton. If this same option is selected later in the game, the reduction can be as little as 7 tons. Interrupt the students when they are close to completing the data on their charts. Have them compare the marginal costs and benefits so they will have ranges where variance occurs. Discuss:
When the students have completed the worksheet, reinforce the idea that effective decision-making, whether by a government, an individual, or a business, requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Most choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something. Few choices are ‘all or nothing’ decisions. Discuss:
Explain that the businesses in Dumptown are responding to an economic incentive. An economic incentive provides a financial motive to behave in a certain way—in this case, to recycle.
Have the students:
1. Learn more about what the people in Dumptown did to change the image of their city. This web page takes the students on a tour of the city, showing how residents now recycle, reuse, and reduce waste.
2. ReadAdventures of the Garbage Gremlin Recycle and Combat a Life of Grime ” a comic book style story that tells what happened at one school that decided to encourage recycling. Ask the class to develop a plan that encourages more recycling in your school or community. https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/land-waste-and-cleanup-topics offers all kinds of tips and advice. Here is a good place to start looking for ideas.
3. Read this https://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.php?page=3#MeasuringMunicipalSolidWaste which explains why the federal government has changed how it measures solid waste. While the city officials in Dumptown used the weight of garbage (tonnage) to measure the effectiveness of various recycling programs, national waste figures are now based on volume. Discuss this change. Ask the students why the change might have been made. Also ask them whether they think it was a good ideea to make the change.
Assess the students based on their completion of the worksheet including their ability to develop a recycling plan for Dumptown that maximizes the tonnage recycled with $75,000. You may also want to assess their participation in class discussion.
Grades 9-12
Grades 9-12
Grades 9-12
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