Plastics in the Water:
Is That A Yummy Jellyfish I See?

Background Information
Plastics have become an inescapable part of daily life. Everything from toys to food packaging to car parts to shoes are now made from some plastic compound. There are many good reasons for this: plastics are relatively inexpensive to produce, are lightweight (and thus easy to transport) and have a long lifespan. There are serious drawbacks to plastics though, primarily relating to their disposal.

Plastics do not break down or biodegrade. Combine this with the huge amount that is produced to be used once and discarded (drink packaging, product packaging, carrying cases, etc) and there can be serious consequences, especially when it finds its way into streams, rivers, and the ocean.

Plastic waste materials enter the marine environment in a variety of ways. They are discarded directly into the water, dropped from boats accidentally, or carried by wind, streams or other animals. The Cousteau Society Estimates 6,000,000 tons of waste enter the oceans each year.

Some of this finds its way into the stomachs of marine animals. The animals mistake the plastic for food, ingest it, and are unable to digest or pass it through their systems. The items slowly accumulate and the animal starves to death. Other animals become entangled and trapped in plastic waste and die.

Objectives
Students will
     examine the plastic waste that they produce daily
     investigate the potential for it to harm marine life if not disposed of properly.
     consider ways to keep plastics out of the environment and to clean up existing litter.

Materials
Examples of plastic we use every day (milk gallons, grocery bags, wrappers on juice
boxes, toothbrushes, pens, six-pack rings.
Plastic fishing line, if available
A day of plastic waste collected by each student at home

Vocabulary
accumulate
biodegrade

Procedure
1. Discuss the uses of plastic in our lives. Brainstorm a list of all the things kids use that are made of or contain plastic. What happens to all that plastic? Explain that plastics do not breakdown – in thousands of years they will look exactly the same as they do today.
2. Discuss what happens if plastics aren’t thrown away properly – where do they end up? Brainstorm some of the problems associated with plastics in the water. Talk about what marine mammals eat (fish, jellyfish, plankton). Could they mistake plastic waste for food? Explain what happens when a marine mammal ingests plastic. What about plastic fishing line, six-pack rings and other plastics? Animals can’t see it and get tangled up in it, often with fatal results.
3. How much plastic to students think they use every day? Have each student collect all the plastic waste that is generated in the home for one or two days (depending on the timing and the amount of trash you want in your classroom) and bring it into school (cleaned and rinsed). If there is simply too much, have them bring just a few examples.
4. Have the students separate their waste into categories based on how it might affect marine animals. Consider which items might be mistaken for food, which might be an entanglement hazard and which just be a pollutant.
5. Optional – Weigh the amount of plastic and determine percentage of trash produced per household (average), or have each student weigh his/her own and calculate the percentage produced per person in their house.
6. As a class, brainstorm ways to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced in their houses, reuse the plastic they do use, and educate the public about the hazards of plastic waste in the ocean.
7. Finally, discuss ways to dispose of the plastics the children brought in for class properly- have the students decide how to best do this.

Assessment
Have students develop and implement their own project to deal with the plastics issues. These could include poster and public information campaigns, urging people to protect marine mammals, writing letters to local officials to propose changes, writing a song about the threat to marine mammals, and establishing information or recycling stations in school.

Further Exploration
Investigate wastes in the community. Help with litter cleanup around the school and look for ways to reduce the amount of plastics that must be disposed of. Encourage recycling efforts and try to find alternatives to the most harmful plastic packaging.

Extend the consideration of hazardous wastes to other than plastics. What are the hazards associated with metals, paper, chemicals?

Resources
50 Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth

Links
Environmental Defense Fund --http://www.edf.org
The Marine Mammal Center – http://www.tmmc.org
Protected Marine Species – http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/elsberry/marspec.html