OBJECTIVES: The students will gain an awareness of the costs of waste disposal. The students will demonstrate that disposal costs may be offset by recycling a portion of municipal waste.

RESOURCES: Calculator, chalkboard.

INTRODUCTION: Eleven million Pennsylvanians generate over nine million tons of municipal waste annually. That is the equivalent of nearly five pounds of waste generated per person per day. In some Pennsylvania communities, the cost for disposal of municipal waste exceeds $40.00 per ton. This does not include the cost for collection and transportation of the waste.

It has been estimated that over 50% of the municipal waste generated is comprised of materials which are recyclable, but only about one percent is presently recycled.

PROCEDURE:

1. Ask each member of the class to calculate the amount of municipal waste generated by his family in a week using the factor of five pounds per person per day. Discuss with the class whether the results are realistic. How do some families generate less garbage? (Buying less, buying less packaging, reusing, recycling, composting, etc.).

2. Have the class calculate the amount of municipal waste a community of 10,000 persons would generate annually. What would be the annual cost to the community for its waste disposal at $40.00 per ton? Discuss with the class how communities pay for disposal of municipal waste (direct payment for municipal collection and disposal, taxes, utility fee, direct payment to contracting disposal firms).

3. Assume that 25% of the community waste could be recovered and sold through recycling. Assume that the average market price paid for aluminum, glass, ferrous metal, paper and plastic is $10.00 per ton. Assume that the cost for collection and transportation of recyclables is equivalent to that of waste.

Ask the class to calculate the amount of the annual community waste disposal cost that could be saved through recycling. Did the class consider that an additional savings would be realized since the amount of waste requiring disposal has been reduced by 25%?

4. Discuss with the class other benefits associated with the recycling of municipal waste (energy and natural resource conservation, environmental benefits of disposal avoidance including conservation of existing landfill space, employment in the recycling industry, etc.).

5. Ask the class members whether a recycling effort in their community could affect disposal costs. Why?