The U of T Trash Team, a waste education and outreach team from the University of Toronto has designed four separate lesson plans that focus on waste literacy with activities that explore our relationship with plastics, the plastic lifecycle, and impacts of plastic debris across aquatic ecosystems. All lessons are designed to inspire solutions towards plastic pollution.

Plastic Cycle

Understanding the plastic cycle (i.e., how plastic is made, how it is used, and where it goes when we throw it “away”) is important to better understand how we have reached unsustainable levels of plastic production and plastic pollution. This lesson will introduce students to what the true definition of “plastic” is, teach them about the plastic lifecycle, and introduce the concept of a circular economy.