The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and Decomposition Rates
Plastic SPI Codes
Plastic
Vocab
The Ecological Footprint
100

Put these in order of GREATEST decomposition rate (take longer to decompose) to LEAST:


Orange peel, milk carton, batteries

Batteries - 100 years

Milk Carton- 5 years

Orange Peel 6 months

100

What colour is the recycle bin?

The recycling bin is blue.
100

Provide 3 examples of things made out of plastic

Some examples:

  • Soft drink bottles.
  • Juice bottles.
  • Water bottles.
  • Shampoo/conditioner bottles.
  • Liquid hand soap bottles.
  • Carry-home food containers.
  • Clothing
100

What vocab word means: 

A combination of sources that cause pollution

Nonpoint Source Pollution

100

What is the human footprint?

The human footprint is the affects that humans have on the environment. 

200

Put these in order of GREATEST decomposition rate (take longer to decompose) to LEAST:


PLastic bottles, tin can, plastic bags


  • Plastic bag: 500-1000 years.
  • Plastic bottles: 70-450 years.
  • Tin can: around 50 years.
200

Which two SPI codes means widely recyclable? 

SPI 1 and SPI 2

200

Define Plastic: 

a material that is manufactured (made) by chemicals to form usable materials. 

*Stays on planet earth for a very long time 

200

What vocab word means:

the amount of carbon dioxide we emit by using gas

Carbon Footprint

200

What are things that humans use or do that impacts that environment?

Humans use clothes, eat food, play, use energy, make homes, and produce lots of garbage that all affects the environment. 

300

Tiny pieces of plastic (less than 5mm in size) usually found floating in the ocean...

Micro Plastics


300

Which two SPI codes are often recyclable but not always?

SPI 3, and SPI 5

300

What is plastic made of

Crude oil


also acceptable: polymer, polyethylene

300

Define Point Source Pollution

A specific someone or something that is causing the pollution (easy to tell who/what)

300

What is 1 thing you do to that affects the earth? (Think about the ecological footprint calculator)

Long showers, waste food, eat lots of meat, drive everywhere, don't check where you by your products, pollute, litter, do not recycle, use a lot of electricity. 

400

What happens to animals when they consume microplastics?

They continue to eat it without knowing it is not food. Their stomach fill up with plastic debri and then starve to death. 

400

Which three SPI codes are never recyclable?

SPI 4, SPI 6, SPI 7

400

Why is plastic bad for the environment?

Provide 2 examples

- Made from nonrenewable resources

-centuries to decompose

-forms garbage patches in oceans

-overwhelming amounts of plastic in landfills

-one use plastic items 

400

Give an example of Nonpoint source pollution

  • Erosion-prone areas deposit excess amounts of sediment into nearby receiving water, which can cause aesthetic, recreational, biological, physical, and chemical degradation.
  • Chemicals (such as fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides) can wash into water bodies through erosion or storm water run-off.
  • Dumping chemicals (such as motor oil and antifreeze) into storm drains.
  • Illegal hookups of storm drains to sanitary sewers can result in increased volumes of flow to waste water treatment plants, causing more frequent overflows of sewage into receiving water.
  • Conventional septic tank systems can cause nonpoint source pollution where the soil is inadequately porous to allow percolation of liquids and/or the ground water level is high.
  • Precipitation can collect airborne contaminants.
  • Precipitation can wash heavy metals and tar residuals from roads into nearby bodies of water.
  • Automobiles and mechanical equipment can leak petroleum residues.
400

Name 1 thing you can do to make your ecological footprint better?

Take shorter showers, walk or bike instead of drive, public transportation, recycle, consume less, use less electricity, eat vegetarian... 

500

Why are humans affected by the great pacific garbage patches?

-eventually we consume the plastic since we consume the animals that eat it--- food chain


-the patches are getting bigger and no one is taking responsibility

-predicted in 2050 their will be as much plastic as there are fish in the ocean

500

Can win half credit with this question...

1. What type of plastic is SPI 1 made of?

2. Give an example of an SPI item. 

Polythene

Example- 

-Water bottle

- Soft drink bottle

-cooking oil bottles

-Peanut Butter jar/ other plastic jars 

500

Why did they think plastic was a great invention back in the early 1900's? 

Provide 2 examples

-affordable for consumers

-easily moldable( can make into any shape)

-fast production

-cheap fro the producers as well

500

provide an example of Point Source Pollution

Anything that is easily identifiable as the source

500

Name one of the two countries that have the biggest ecological footprint per person on average?

USA= 8.0 (New research will probably show that it increased)

Canada= 8.1

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