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Free Our Planet Primary and Secondary WWF resources for your region.

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9 building materials made entirely from waste products

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9 building materials made entirely from waste products

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Building with Waste, a new book about, well, you can guess, may not sound like it should top your holiday reading list - but, construction geeks as we are, we found its premise fascinating. Every year, human settlements produce 1.3bn tonnes worth of solid waste products. The book argues that we could and should be putting this to good use as cheap, durable and green building materials.

Compilers Dirk E. Hebel, Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heise looked into the worlds of architecture, construction, and the delightfully named field of "garbology" to find new and exciting materials made out of stuff you'd normally find at a landfill site. Their book argues that, in future, we could end up re-using pretty much everything, as we did back when all waste was organic.

This could come in handy if, as is predicted, our municipal waste output doubles by 2025. As Mitchell Joachim, one of the book's contributors, puts it:

The future city makes no distinction between waste and supply.

So, from animal blood bricks to nappy roofing, here are our favourite waste-based materials featured in the book.

1. NewspaperWood

This design comes froom Norway, where over 1m tonnes of paper and cardboard are recycled every year. The wood is created by rolling up paper and solvent-free glue to create something not dissimilar to a log, then chopping it into usable planks. The wood can then be sealed so it's waterproof and flame-retardant, and used to build anything you would normally build with wood.

2. Nappy roofing

Image: Lightweight tiles ltd.

Good news: something can be salvaged from all those nappies and sanitary products we throw away, even though they're, well, really gross. Special recycling plants separate out the polymers from the, er, organic waste, and these polymers can then be used to ceate fibre-based construction materials like the tiles in the image above.

3. Recy blocks

These colourful bricks are made from old plastic bags, which are notoriously difficult to recycle in any other way. Recycled bags or plastic packaging are placed in a heat mold, and forced together to form the blocks. They're too lightweight to act as load-bearing walls, but can be used to divide up rooms or outdoor areas.

4. Blood Brick

This idea rests on the assumption that animal blood counts as a waste product. This, we realise, is a potentially offensive idea - but while carnivores are still munching away, they're still wasting loads of animal blood, especially in societies without industrialised food production systems. And, as it turns out, blood is one of the strongest bio-adhesives out there, as it contains high levels of protein.

British architecture student Jack Munro proposes using freeze-dried blood (which comes as a a powder), mixed with sand to form a paste; this can then be cast as bricks. This could be especially useful in remote communities, where blood from animal slaughter is plentiful, but strong construction materials are thin on the ground.

5. Bottle bricks

Image: Aaron "tango" Tang via Flickr.

This proposal is a little different, as it relies on producing a consumer good specifically so it can later be used as a building material. Lots of companies now make bottles in cuboid or other tesselative shapes, to make them easier to transport.

But the practice of doing so to create construction materials actually started with beer company Heineken in the 1960s - Alfred Henry Heineken, owner of the brewery, visited a Carribean island and was dismayed at both lack of shelter, and the number of discarded Heineken bottles scattered everywhere. So the company landed on a new, brick-shaped design for the bottle, shown in the images above. The bottleneck slots into the base of the next bottle, forming an interlocking line.

6. Smog insulators

Image: New Terrirories/City of Bangkok.

One of our biggest waste receptacles is the air, which isn't great for our lungs, or for the human race's chances of survival on a planet that's rapidly getting hotter. "Dustyrelief", a system created by the City of Bangkok and design firm New-Territories, involves placing an electrically charged metal mesh over a building, which attracts large smog particles and sticks them together. Eventually, this creates a kind of silvery fur over the building's surface. Not particularly attractive, perhaps, but much better than a similar shag forming on the insides of your lungs.

7. Mushroom walls

Image: Evocative designs.

Here, designers figured out a way to grow wall insulator and packing materials using mycelium, a bacteria found in rotting organisms like tree trunks and agricultural byproducts. If placed in a mold, these organic matters grow to the desired shape within a couple of days, and can then be stopped using a hot oven. This is particularly useful because traditional insulating and packing materials tend to be non-biodegradable, or, in the case of asbestos, poisonous.

8. Plasphalt

The bit on the left is plasphalt, the bit on the right is asphalt. Image: TEWA.

OK, yes, we mostly like this one for its fun name. Plasphalt is made up of grains of plastic produced from unsorted plastic waste, which replaces the sand and gravel traditionally used in asphalt production. In testing, it was found that plasphalt roads were far less vulnerable to wear and tear than traditional asphalt, because the asphalt emulsion bonded better with the plastic than with gravel or sand.

9. Wine cork panels

Image: Yemm & Hart materials.

These wall or floor tiles are made by combining recycled granulated cork with whole wine corks, which you can see as those oblong shapes in the tiles above. This is a pretty useful idea, considering the world apparently consumes around 31.7bn bottles of wine a year. For shame.

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9 building materials made entirely from waste products

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Building with Waste, a new book about, well, you can guess, may not sound like it should top your holiday reading list - but, construction geeks as we are, we found its premise fascinating. Every year, human settlements produce 1.3bn tonnes worth of solid waste products.

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51 Unique and Innovative Ways To Reuse Your Garbage

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Recycling is a huge topic in modern times, where landfills are overburdened and the amount of waste produced every year continues to grow. Landfills not only pollute the environment but also have a negative effect on the health of human beings and animals. Landfills are primarily meant for wastes that can't be recycled, composted or used to generate energy. Of late, we have been disposing all the wastes including the ones that can be easily recycled to the landfills.

While putting everything that you can in the recycling bin is helpful, so is figuring out ways to reuse your garbage. There are a number of things you can do, from art projects to home improvement, using your discarded items for materials. The idea behind reusing your garbage is to make sure that you send minimum waste to the landfills and minimize your carbon footprint on the environment. These simple ideas listed below won't cost you anything and can help you fight against growing problem of landfills.

Here are 51 ideas for you to get started with your own in-home recycling program. The earth will thank you!

1. Milk Jug Planters: Create easy to transport planters for your garden, particularly useful when relocation indoor plants to the outdoors.

2. Milk Jug Watering: Use gallon jugs for a DIY watering system for your garden. Poke a few holes in the bottom, fill it with water, and bury it, and it will slowly seep out into the garden.

3. Plastic Soda Bottles Bird Feeder: Making a bird feeder in the backyard is easy with an upside down bottle; plus, you can decide if you want to use the bigger size or smaller.

4. Plastic Soda Bottles Science Projects: Reuse soda bottles to learn and experiment in safe and creative ways. Help kids create a science project exploring volcanos or vortexes.

5. Plastic Soda Bottle Coolers: Use small frozen bottles to keep lunch bags cool, and larger ones for long-days at the beach.

6. Egg Carton Seed Starters: You only want to use paper egg cartons for this, but they can be great to plant your seedlings in because the paper is biodegradable.

7. Coffee Grounds Cleaner: They can be an excellent non-abrasive way to help clean dishes that need an extra bit of scouring power.

8. Coffee Grounds Fertilizer: Use them as fertilizer in your outdoor gardens, or for indoor plants that could use a bit of nourishment.

9. Coffee Grounds Deodorizer: Dry out used grounds, and place an open container in the fridge and freezer to keep them odor-free.

10. Tea Bag Spa Refresher: Save your old tea bags and store them in the refrigerator; they are a great way to reduce puffiness in the eyes.

11. Tea Bag First Aid: The tannins in tea bags will also help reduce swelling and pain related to burns and bites.

12. Newspaper Cleaning: Newspaper is amazing for cleaning things up. Use them for wiping down windows, or as a way to wipe off paint from brushes, or grease from tools.

13. Newspaper For Protection: Keep sensitive areas safe by adding newspaper. Great for under tablecloths for another layer of protection.

14. Newspaper Bags As Boot Pulls: Love wearing knee-high boots, but hate getting them on? Equestrian athlete that has to pull them over sweaty pants? Newspaper bags can be slipped over the foot and calf to make pulling boots on and off super easy.

15. Newspaper Bags As Boot Protectors: They're also great to carry around just in case of rain, as a way to protect your shoes.

16. Newspaper Bag Gloves: Need to wash dishes but don't want to ruin the manicure? Slip on a bag as an easy way to protect your hands.

17. Newspaper Bags for Animal Waste: If you have a pet, you probably have to pick up their waste at some point. Use newspaper bags to easily scoop out litter boxes, or to pick up after dogs when out on a walk.

18. Silica Packets For Storage: You can't eat them, but you can use them for what they are designed for - protecting items from moisture. Use in storage with paper items and documents to keep them safe, or with old printed photos to make sure they are preserved.

19. Wine Cork Key Rings: They make great key rings - easy to grab but also able to float! Perfect for boaters and watersport enthusiasts.

20. Wine Cork Sharp Safety: Wine corks are also great for some of their oldest reuse purposes - on the end of needles, pins, or other sharp items to protect fingertips.

21. Wine Cork Drawer and Cabinet Pulls: For a unique décor item, use larger sized corks, or reinforce corks with a resin sealer, and use them on your cabinets.

22. Bacon Grease Bird food: You can't put it down the sink, and storing it in jars to discard gets gross. Instead, pour your used grease into a small can and chill it. Then you can string up the can on a tree and attract a number of interesting birds - including jays, bluebirds, woodpeckers, and more.

23. Old Bread Croutons: Don't let old bread go to waste - cut it up and dry them or throw them in the oven for some croutons.

24. Old Bread becomes Breadcrumbs: Do the same thing, but let the bread first dry out and then crumble it into useful breadcrumbs.

25. Old Dice Jewelry: You can use dice for a number of awesome ideas, such as punching holes in them, making them unique "beads" for jewelry.

26. Old Typewriter Key Cufflinks: You may want to keep your old typewriter in one piece, but if not, repurpose the old keys by transforming them into cufflinks. Unique, and an awesome gift for any occasion.

27. Toilet Paper Tube Pet Toys: Small pets like hamsters? Toilet paper tubes are awesome to give them tunnels to burrow in.

28. Toilet Paper Tube Packing Materials: Tear them up and use them to give your shipped items a bit more protection without needing to buy peanuts or bubble wrap.

29. Toilet Paper Tube Planters: You can use tubes to start off your seedlings by directly planting them. Paper is biodegradable, meaning you have an easy and environmentally-friendly way to get started.

30. Empty Pill Container Organizers: Use them to hold herbs, jewelry items, or other little objects that could use some organization.

31. Empty Pill Container Sewing Kit: An easy-to-find and all-inclusive mini sewing kit is a must to have around the house.

32. Empty Pill Container First Aid Kit: In the same vein, fill your bottle with Band-Aids, small packets of disinfectant, and other first-aid items that is easy to carry with you on the go.

33. Old T-Shirt Rugs: A unique way of using old T-shirts is tearing them into strips and then "weaving" them into a unique rug.

34. Old T-Shirts for Cleaning: Save your old T-shirts for cleaning towels; you'll be reusing trash and reducing your purchase of paper towels.

35. Old Pantyhose Orchid Planters: If you have the climate, outside orchids are beautiful to hang from your trees. For an easy installation, secure a new plant in some pantyhose, and wrap it around the tree for support as it grows.

36. Old Pantyhose Rags: They're also great to use for cleaning up sensitive areas that may be prone to scuffs or scratches.

37. Old Jeans, New Skirt: Jeans are particularly easy to turn into skirts, particularly if they already have holes in them.

38. Old Jeans, New Bag: Cut up old and torn jeans and sew them haphazardly into a unique bag. No need for skill, the more jagged and messier, the more bohemian the look.

39. Banana Peel Shiner: Banana peels are awesome for shining and buffing shoes, particularly leather ones.

40. Lemon Peel for Cooking: Lemon zest comes from lemon peels, so save the skins for further cooking needs.

41. Transform Old Books Into Journals: You can replace pages in old books as journals, or even write over the words if that's your thing.

42. Transform Old Books Into Sketchbooks: "Altered" books are an art form in themselves, so try your hand by using an old book as a sketchbook, or even as a scrapbook.

43. Styrofoam Packing Materials: Save old fast food containers to create packing peanuts, and if you receive some of the latter, try and save them for your next shipping need.

44. Baby Food Jars For Storage: Their size makes them great for everything from your rings to your screws.

45. Baby Wipe Containers For Storage: A bit bigger in size, these can store everything from your office's pens to your sewing supplies.

46. Paper Grocery Bags For Totes: Reusable bags are best, but if you already have paper ones, fold them up and reuse them the next time you go shopping.

47. Plastic Grocery Bags for Pet Waste: Cat owner? Save your plastic grocery bags for cleaning up after Fluffy.

48. Plastic Grocery Bags for the Car: Keep plastic bags as an easy-to-transport garbage can for your car.

49. Glass Bottle Candles: Use old wine bottles as candle holders to make for an enchanting effect.

50. CD Coasters: Reuse old CDs as coasters by sealing with a protective coating.

51. CD Ornaments: CDs make great ornaments for Christmas trees, looking awesome when they catch the light.

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51 Unique and Innovative Ways To Reuse Your Garbage - Conserve Energy Future

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Recycling is a huge topic in modern times, where landfills are overburdened and the amount of waste produced every year continues to grow. Landfills not only pollute the environment but also have a negative effect on the health of human beings and animals.

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Turning Waste into Worth

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From fishing nets turned into carpet tiles, shampoo sludge that becomes fertiliser and plastic bottles transformed into Brazilian football kits, waste is being re-used in innovative ways to create new products. Our gallery pulls together some of the most interesting examples

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Turning waste into worth - innovation in pictures

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From fishing nets turned into carpet tiles, shampoo sludge that becomes fertiliser and plastic bottles transformed into Brazilian football kits, waste is being re-used in innovative ways to create new products. Our gallery pulls together some of the most interesting examples

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Transforming Garbage into Useful Products

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Transforming Garbage into Useful Products

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Pitch

Don't burn or toss that kitchen waste, plastic, styrofoam, glass, or "trash"! That's a Gold Mine!

Description

Summary

For years, a steady stream of plastic, styrofoam & other "trash" has made its way onto & into landscapes, landfills, waterways, & garbage incinerators. In some developing countries, individuals burn anything they can burn, sending more heat into the atmosphere & toxic air (plastics) into lungs. Nicaraguans & Costa Ricans already recycle styrofoam to use as shelving, containers, & insulation. For years, creative people have turned garbage into art to be sold on the market.
The flow would look like this:

Individual walks their plastic or other usable garbage to neighborhood center

A neighborhood center employee accepts the item(s) & determines which bin it is to go into

Materials in bins of each type of acceptable garbage are cleaned with non-toxic/organic solutions (or UV) & dried (solar drying)

Cleaned & dried materials are then selected for product manufacturing

Products are manufactured & made available for purchasing

Proceeds from sales to be used to pay employee salaries, training costs, establish new production facilities, purchase necessary tools/equipment/forms & liquid glass to protect some products for long life & to pay those who bring their garbage a nominal fee for participating in the program

Types of products: Potentials:

Ideas for products may be endless. It all depends on whether agencies, officials, & industry can get behind the program to support it's development.

There is probable conflict due to the displacement of other industrial manufacturing centers, but, in places like Costa Rica & Nicaragua, this will have a beneficial impact because importation of goods is very expensive and there are few manufacturing centers.

Green waste/compostable materials may also be removed from the waste stream to be used by farmers. According to Climate Justice, (Vancouver, BC): "More than one quarter of waste going to landfill is compostable organic material."

Category of the action

Reducing emissions from waste management

What actions do you propose?

1. Encourage agencies, industry, non-profit organizations, and environmental leaders to embrace this plan and move forward with creating neighborhood centers where people desire work and income

2. Agencies, non-profit organizations, and environmental leaders develop policy to address and create infrastructure to implement a zero waste/burn practices

3. Seek support from the United Nations Environment Programme and other agencies and organizations who struggle with finding waste stream solutions

4. Monetize the system of waste reduction to garner higher levels of participation

5. Identify most viable facility sites and build the facilities

6. Establish training programs for transforming garbage into products

7. Train community members who desire to work

8. Develop marketing program and access points (outlets)

9. Produce popular products and sell them

10. Make available for sale at very low price points, cleaned and dried materials for anyone who wishes to purchase them

11. Implement and enforce zero burn policies for agriculture and other waste generated in communities (typically garbage burned by individuals or companies)

Who will take these actions?

Agencies, elected officials, non-profit organizations, environmental groups, community members, farmers, and other change advocates.

Where will these actions be taken?

This is intended to be a decentralized co-op styled collection, processing and manufacturing program. To keep the GHGs as low as possible, this is the only way it can work without negating the benefits of removing garbage from the waste stream and turning it into useful products (transportation and storage of large volumes of materials not required).

Being familiar with how garbage is handled in Central America, I am able to describe how this program may work in both rural and urban communities.

For example, in Costa Rica, individuals burn their garbage on a daily and weekly basis. Instead of burning plastics, styrofoam, and other garbage that may render useful in creating products, a neighborhood collection, cleaning, and creation facility (CCCF) may be set up to transform garbage into products.

In Nicaragua, instead of tossing garbage out of car and bus windows, individuals can drop off their usable garbage at neighborhood CCCFs on their way home or to wherever they are going.

In urban and rural areas, compostable materials may be collected before entering the waste stream and delivered to composting stations to create quality green compost for farms. These materials would need to be certified as free of pesticides/toxins before collection.

This project may be replicated around the world and is intended to be implemented as localized/low-tech cooperatives eliminating the need for large scale, expensive, and GHG producing activities.

What are other key benefits?

Replace wood for product creation (protect forests and habitat and increase carbon sequestration)

Replace concrete for product creation (reducing GHGs)

Cut down on need for incineration and landfills by diverting waste away from waste stream before it enters the waste stream

Remove plastic garbage from landscapes, waterways, oceans

Remove toxic air from neighborhoods (cut down on cancer & other diseases resulting from breathing in burned plastic et al.)

Creates jobs and more money circulating in local economies

Localized/small scale operations eliminates need for large scale operations and related costs of management

Increases pollution awareness in a positive way

Replicable anywhere garbage and human resources exist

How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?

According to Climate Justice, the Vancuver BC area alone could achieve these goals:
* By 2020, reduced generation and more aggressive recycling and composting lead to 4.9 million tonnes CO2e savings by displacing organics from disposal and reducing the need for energy-intensive extraction and processing activities.
* By 2040 this rises to 6.2 million tonnes.

According to the World Bank, Greenhouse Gas Emisisons (CO 2, CH 4, N 2 O) (MtCO 2 e) in China: 3,650; Brazil: 659; and India 1,201.

N.B. GHG reduction rates from eliminating rural practice of burning waste at residences or other sites by individuals before waste enters the stream is not readily apparent.

In addition, an aggressive zero-burn policy for agriculture may be implemented - Central American farmers (probably others too) burn cane, rice & other crops post harvest.

Total reduction: I don't know but I think it is in the Gigaton range.

What are the proposal's costs?
All costs noted are US Dollars

Cost of building each facility may range from $6,000 to $10,000 depending on location

Cost of training may range from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on how many facilities are implemented in the initial phase (then product sales will pay for training)

Cost of manufacturing depends on number of employees required, may range from $20,000 to $70,000

Cost of equipment/tools/solutions/liquid glass TBD

If fifty facilities are built:

10 in Costa Rica

10 in Nicargaua

10 in El Salvador

10 in China

10 in India

costs (not including equipment/tools/solutions/liquid glass) may range from $1,800,000 to $6,500,000.

N.B. These costs may be reduced considerably depending upon the ingenuity and resourcefulness of stakeholders.

Time line

2014 and into the future.

Related proposals

Zero Construction Renovation Demolition Waste to Landfill by 2030 climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/26/planId/1202220

Waste Train climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/26/planId/1301321

Garbage art images http://www.google.com.ni/search?q=garbage+art&client=firefox-a&hs=k9s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=B0e7UcWBKozS8wT42oGgCw&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1169&bih=633

Pop, R. Turning trash into usable products 2009 raoulpop.com/2009/10/09/turning-trash-into-usable-products/

References

Full References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nCmtsEGcioPbFGU3nmqeQ3mpRYIr_RPahMD1A7cHD8c/edit?usp=sharing

Avi credit to: Wikimedia Commons user Jakub Jankiewicz: Earth recycle.svg commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_recycle.svg

Trois, C. & Jagath, R. 2011 Sustained Carbon Emissions Reductions through Zero WasteStrategies for South African Municipalities, Integrated Waste Management - Volume II, http://www.intechopen.com/books/integrated-waste-management-volume-ii/sustained-carbon-emissions-reductions-through-zero-waste-strategies-for-south-african-municipaliti

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Transforming Garbage into Useful Products - Waste management 2013 - Climate CoLab

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Don't burn or toss that kitchen waste, plastic, styrofoam, glass, or "trash"! That's a Gold Mine! For years, a steady stream of plastic, styrofoam & other "trash" has made its way onto & into landscapes, landfills, waterways, & garbage incinerators.

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This zero-waste packaging is made from bamboo

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The art of Japanese packaging

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Tsutsumu - The Art of Japanese Packaging

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Supermarket slammed for packaging kumara in plastic

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Environmentally-conscious consumers are furious with an Australian supermarket for its reliance on plastic packaging to wrap up kumara.

A photo of Woolworth's Select brand gold kumara being sold in plastic trays has received more than 6000 angry responses since it was posted on the supermarket's Facebook page on Saturday by New South Wales mental health worker Leanne Stokan.

Stokan's post read: "Woolworths, we, your customers, don't want this. Our planet doesn't need it. Sweet potatoes can go from your shelf to my trolley to my kitchen without ever needing to touch a plastic bag, let alone a plastic tray as well!!!"

Woolworths' New Zealand arm Countdown sells Fresh Produce gold kumara packaged in sealed plastic bags.
READ MORE:
* Little being done to tackle issue of plastic packaging in supermarkets
* New reusable vege bags cuts out need for plastic
* Kiwis show support for plastic bag levy
A Countdown spokeswoman said it did not sell kumara in the same plastic trays as Woolworths.

In a comment on the post, Stokan​ called plastic the "enemy".

Plastic Free New Zealand campaign advocacy organisation Our Seas Our Future trustee, Noel Jhinku​ said retailers needed to take more responsibility to reduce excessive plastic packaging.

Jhinku​ said vegetables such as potatoes and kumara did not need to be packaged in plastic.

Customers should choose to purchase loose vegetables and carry them in reusable bags, he said.

Other Facebookers commented on Stokan's​ post, defending the environment and slamming the supermarket chain.

Sydney woman Danielle Sciortino​ said the supermarket's contribution to plastic waste was "scandalous".

"If you also supply sweet potatoes in loose format and they survive fine then there is no reason to wrap them in plastic," Sciortino​ said.

Woolworths responded to Stokan in a comment on the post, explainingthe reason it used plastic to package the kumara was to preserve it throughout the supply chain process.

The response read: "When considering new recyclable packaging options, we need to ensure that it meets our existing food safety standards, product integrity requirements, and that it sustains the appropriate shelf life of our products to reduce food waste. We'll continue to work with our suppliers to actively pursue packaging alternatives that reduce the amount of packaging or increasing its recyclability where possible."

- Stuff

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Supermarket slammed for packaging kumara in plastic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Environmentally-conscious consumers are furious with an Australian supermarket for its reliance on plastic packaging to wrap up kumara. A photo of Woolworth's Select brand gold kumara being sold in plastic trays has received more than 6000 angry responses since it was posted on the supermarket's Facebook page on Saturday by New South Wales mental health worker Leanne Stokan.

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Packaging Tips

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Posted March 18th, 2010 by Admin

Essential Question:

What is the purpose of packaging?

Introduction:

Students are led through a guided discussion to brainstorm the purpose and function of packaging. From their list the class develops four general categories that explain the purpose and function of packaging.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will analyze packaging to learn the four main purposes of packaging.

Classroom Time Required:

1 class period (45-60 minutes)

Materials Needed:

Handouts: none

Students need notebook paper

Optional: A few examples of packaging. Suggestions - can (soup or soda), bag (chips or sugar), packaging that assists with cooking (steamer bag, microwavable soup, hot pocket)

Technology Required:

None

Pre-activities:

Packaging, Lesson 1-Scavenger Hunt

(Incorporate examples from Lesson 1 - Scavenger Hunt into the discussion during this lesson.)

Teacher Background:

***Important do not share this information with students prior to the lesson. ***

Industry states that there are four main purposes and benefits of packaging:

Protection, Convenience, Image, and Sustainability.

The ideal package will incorporate as many of these benefits as possible, and if possible have all four represented.

Purposes of Packaging Overview -

Protection - for the product: transportation without spoiling and/or breaking for the consumer: reduces worry and increases safety

Convenience - ease of use and decision making, simplifies life

Image - shelf-appeal, brand awareness, and product/company/consumer values

Sustainability - reduction of environmental impact, consumers can make a difference

Lesson:

1. Have students take a piece of notebook paper and fold it in 1/4ths. Label the paper "The Purpose of Packaging".

2. Without telling students please be aware that each of the 1/4ths will represent one of the four main purposes of packaging: Protection, Convenience, Image, and Sustainability. It will be important for the teacher not to mix up the columns designation throughout the lesson.

3. Introduce today's topic: Purpose of Packaging.
Packaging design and engineering is a career. Designers have to think about many purposes of packaging. What are they?

4. Open a discussion with students to brainstorm the purposes of packaging.

5. As students share ideas write their idea under the designated column (still without a heading) on the board. For example, if a student said a purpose of packaging was to protect the contents from breaking then you would write that idea in the unlabeled "protection" column.

6. Continue the discussion and write student suggestions in the unlabeled column that best fits.

7. You may need to pull out some ideas from students to keep the discussion going. Refer back to specific examples for their prior Packaging Scavenger Hunt (Lesson 2) activity and/or any sample packaging that you or students may have brought in.

8. Lists may be different in every class. Below are some of the purposes that seventh grade students have suggested:

9. It is okay to list some of the purposes in more than one column if they apply.

10. Tell students that there are four main purposes of packaging. As students were sharing ideas you were already grouping them into the different main purposes. Each column represents one of these main purposes of packaging. In groups have students brainstorm possible headings for each column. After about 5 minutes have groups share their names with the class.
For example, for the convenience column students came up with "easy", "simplify", "convenient", etc.

11. Reveal the actual term used by industry. Have students write each term at the top of their paper.

12. Share the following summary for each purpose. See if students thought of all the ideas mentioned below:

Protection - for the product: transportation without spoiling and/or breaking for the consumer: reduces worry and increases safety

Convenience - ease of use and decision making, simplifies life

Image - shelf-appeal, brand awareness, and product/company/consumer values

Sustainability - reduction of environmental impact, consumers can make a difference

13. Have students write down the following definitions:

Primary Packaging: packaging that touches the product

Secondary Packaging: packaging that does not touch the product itself

Tertiary Packaging: packaging that holds together a groups of items

For example: Water bottles. The bottle = primary packaging, the label = secondary packaging, the plastic shrink-wrap and cardboard base that holds together large quantities of water bottles = tertiary packaging

As you continue your packaging study, encourage students to use these terms.

Assessment:

Continuously monitor the room and ask probing questions to informally asses student understanding of the activity and the consumer mindsets.

Ask students to write one paragraph explaining the purpose of packaging. Students could submit this as a "ticket out the door" or write it for homework.

Modifications:

Copy of notes.

Vocabulary:

Primary packaging

Secondary packaging

Tertiary packaging

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Packaging Lesson #2: What is the purpose of packaging?

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Posted March 18th, 2010 by Admin What is the purpose of packaging? Students are led through a guided discussion to brainstorm the purpose and function of packaging. From their list the class develops four general categories that explain the purpose and function of packaging. Students will analyze packaging to learn the four main purposes of packaging.

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Design a Package

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This project involves designing a package for a food product. The food product in question could be specified by the teacher, or the children could choose for themselves.

1) Look at packaging made by food companies. What are they made out of? Why was this material chosen? What information can be found on the packaging (weight, product description, ingredients, logo, picture, nutrition information...).

2) Disassemble the packaging. How was it made? If the packaging is a box, what is the net like? Are there any other nets which will make the same box?

3) Discuss what happens to the materials once they have been used. Can they be recycled? Can they be used again? Can the packaging be made from any other materials?

4) Ask the children to design their own packaging, using the information that they have learnt from the previous activities. They could even design a few different types of packaging, and conduct some consumer research (asking other children) to find out the favourite.

5) While the children are designing their packaging, they should consider the following:

Appearance - Is it attractive and eye-catching? Does it make the consumer want to pick it up and look at the contents?

Function - Does it hold the contents safely and securely? Is it suitable for its intended job?

Safety - Will the food be kept fresh? Will it be damaged?

Reliability - Is the box strong enough for the purpose? Will it last for the intended storage life?

6) Once the product is designed, the children can make their packaging.

7) When the packaging has been made, they can evaluate their product, and they could conduct some more research to find out what others think.

8) The children could also create some advertising to promote their product. This could be in the form of a poster, a TV advert, or a radio advert.

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This project involves designing a package for a food product. The food product in question could be specified by the teacher, or the children could choose for themselves. 1) Look at packaging made by food companies. What are they made out of? Why was this material chosen?

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Exploring Food Packaging

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Teaching inquiry

How can I develop understandings of some of the indicators in the technological products components in an integrated unit on food and food packaging for my year 6 class?

Strategy

Dorothy Hutton planned to introduce understandings of some of the indicators in the technological products component at level 1 and 2 and aspects of level 3 within a unit that also had a focus on food and food packaging. The unit also integrated chemistry (science) and healthy eating (health and physical education).
Materials unit plan version one (Word, 117 KB)
The school has an implementation plan for the technology curriculum (see the case study Tracking coverage and learning across a school) and technological products was the planned focus for term 3.

Select the headings below to read more.

Introducing the unit

Materials for papier-mâché gumboots

The students had recently made papier-mâché gumboots for the spring service. Dorothy started the teaching by providing links to this work and discussing with the students the materials they had used in their gumboots - flour, paper, paint, and polyurethane.

She introduced the vocabulary of the technological products component and asked the children questions exploring understandings at level 1 technological products:

What materials were the gumboots made from?

Why did we use each of these materials?

What are the performance properties of paper, flour paste, paint, and polyurethane?

Pre-European Māori materials

Dorothy also used material from a unit on mask making developed by Christine Elder from South Otago Junior Technology Centre.

In particular, she found the presentation on pre-European Māori technology useful to introduce understandings of materials and their properties from a cultural and historical perspective.

See the teaching snapshot, Mask making.

Growing students' understandings of materials

Tītī storage

To add to this focus the students were shown the section on tītī storage in the PAC-IT Education Resource produced by the Packaging Council of New Zealand.

The father of one of the students (Tony Ballantyne) had worked with one of the experts featured in this resource. Tony visited the class, bringing pōhā (traditional packaging to store tītī) with him.

The students being able to look and feel real pōhā made it really come alive for them!
Dorothy Hutton

Tony explained that the pōhā could hold 23 mutton-birds - "imagine taking that to trade," he said.

Captivated by his visit and stories, the students carried out a small re-enactment of trading the mutton-birds. When they were carrying the pōhā, the students found that the strap was uncomfortable but very strong. This lead to rich discussions about the materials the pōhā was made from and the materials in their environment today that are used for packaging and carrying foodstuffs.

Tony also showed the students the kelp bag that goes inside the outer woven basket of the pōhā. The kelp is split and expanded to form a small pocket that the tītī are then packed into.

New milk bottle packaging

The new Anchor milk bottle provided stimulus for a discussion on the performance properties of materials. The students' comments included the following:

It is annoying that you can't see how much milk is in the bottle.

It costs more.

If it is so important for a milk product to be in a container that is light proof - what about yoghurt and other milk products?

The milk we have is in a clear container so why don't they put all milk products in clear containers?

Milk turns over pretty fast in our house - a 2-litre bottle of milk only lasts a day or so ... so what's the point?

Year 6 students

Some of the articles Dorothy used for reference on the milk bottle include:

Sorting packaging materials

Dorothy brought in a range of packaging materials and told the students they were going to sort them into categories. The students established several categories but these were revisited as they sorted the items.

There were 75 items. Students each chose three and placed each item in one of the growing number of categories. The students explained why they had choosen the categories for their items, focusing on the predominant packaging material. The students were able to agree or disagree, and discuss their decisions.

The categories included, hard plastic, soft plastic, transparent, opaque. Prompted by teacher questioning and input, the students moved some items to different categories and renamed categories based on their new understandings.

Once physical regrouping and renaming had occurred, each category was photographed. The teacher created a sheet with the identified categories and their names for each student. There were 15 categories by the end of the activity.
Food packaging materials groupings (PDF, 535 KB)
The class then brainstormed what the performance properties of each group were.

Technically feasible and socially acceptable?

To introduce the concepts of technically feasible and socially acceptable, Dorothy showed the students a presentation developed by Christine Elder from South Otago Junior Technology Centre.

See, the level 3 indicators of progression for technological products. (Scroll to the bottom of the page for the indicators of progression .)
Technically feasible and socially acceptable (PowerPoint 2007, 1 MB)
The students discussed the food products that they had sorted earlier and agreed that all of the packaging was technically feasible because the products were available on the supermarket shelves to purchase and safe to consume when packaged and stored in the correct manner.

Their discussions about social acceptability raised questions such as "Is it socially acceptable to have tomato sauce in a bottle on the table?"

Dorothy considered these to be very introductory discussions and could see that further work would be needed to develop understandings to meet the level 3 indicator for technological products.
Food packaging materials worksheet (Word 2007, 5 MB)

Evidence of students' understandings

The students' written work was kept in a workbook.

Other activities included exploring and recording understandings of materials and performance properties and researching materials in traditional Māori products of the past.

Student writing: The properties of cotton (PDF, 318 KB)
The students took notes on discussions of the properties of materials that can be measured objectively and subjectively.

Student writing: Objective and subjective (PDF, 415 KB)
The students were asked to locate a food package from home and record information about its materials and their properties.

To assess whether the students could transfer their understandings to an unknown product, they repeated the same worksheet in the class using an unknown example. This time, the product featured was the same for every student to make it easier to assess. The container used offered different types of material with a variety of performance properties.

Outcomes

Dorothy used the unknown product worksheet as summative assessment evidence to begin making judgments of students' levels of understanding against some of the level 1-3 indicators for technological products. The teaching had focused on some of the indicators in technological products, in particular:

identify materials that technological products are made from

identify performance properties of common materials

describe the performance properties of a range of materials and use these to suggest things the materials could be used for

suggest why the materials used in particular technological products were selected.

describe the properties of materials used in particular products that can be measured objectively

describe the properties of materials used in particular products that can be measured subjectively

describe how the properties combine to ensure the materials allow the product to be technically feasible and socially acceptable.

Based on their worksheets and overall teacher judgments, Dorothy believes the students did reach level 2-3 understandings for these indicators.

This evidence also helped Dorothy to determine coverage of curriculum components for the school's project on tracking technology curriculum coverage (see Tracking coverage and learning across a school).

Reflection

Dorothy noted that one of her worksheets asked students to consider and describe the technical feasibility and the social acceptability of a product separately. Realising that the indicator requires students to combine these understandings, she plans to rephrase these questions in the worksheet.

What next?

The next unit the students are completing is on hats. Dorothy is planning to make links for students to the technological products understandings that they developed in this unit. Her questioning could include - What are the hats made of and why?

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How can I develop understandings of some of the indicators in the technological products components in an integrated unit on food and food packaging for my year 6 class? Dorothy Hutton planned to introduce understandings of some of the indicators in the technological products component at level 1 and 2 and aspects of level 3 within a unit that also had a focus on food and food packaging.

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Supermarket chain to ban plastic packaging within 5 years

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Plastic

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Could you do this?

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What does this image make you think?

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What does this image make you think?

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National Library Services to Schools : Topic Explorer

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National Library Services to Schools : Topic Explorer

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Environmental Issues