Assignment $1$: Waste Tracking Challenge

Due week $3-$ Worth $10\%$ of your grade

We use throw away packaging every day, but have you thought about how much?

This research mission invites you to monitor and record all plastics, packaging, and waste that you buy and throw away in one week through your groceries, snacks and take$-$away food. Keep track on what kind of plastics packaging you are getting, especially the smaller formats, and how much of it is actually reused or collected for recycling where you live. For this assignment, you will be submitting a final report, outlining the following:

$***$ Step $1$: Personal Introduction $/$ Projections: Before you get started, reflect on how much packaging you likely use each day. Through what activities do you think you produce the most trash? Write one paragraph taking a guess at how much you produce each week. Include this in the introduction of your report.

$***$ Step $2$: Trash Inventory: The second part of your report will include a visual or written inventory describing what you disposed of$.$ What are those items or materials that you disposed of$?$ You can take notes, take photographs, draw illustrations, create graphs and charts, mind maps, etc. Choose a method that's easiest and most interesting for you to record.

$***$ Step $3$: Reflect. At the week, reflect on your activities. What did you learn about yourself? About waste? What are some areas for improvement?

$***$ Step $4$: Share. Create a PPT presentation and present key findings to the class. Tell us personal stories. What surprised you? What did you notice or learn about yourself?

Deliverables:

$1-3$ page report with photographs, charts, and personal reflections. Use headings above as key sections. Be creative with how you put your report together. Use your design skills to emphasize key points, or summarize information.

$10$ minute in$-$class presentation discussing key findings