Reduce, Re-use, Recycle; Three easy steps to help save our environment.

The last step, recycling, requires the most work. You might think it is easy to throw something into a blue box, however, the process of recycling can be labour and energy intensive. In other words, it takes a lot of people and a lot of energy to recycle our products.

In this project you will look at recycling systems, learn about how they work, and then design and build a prototype to make the recycling process more efficient.

As you learn about recycling, or materials recovery as it is sometimes known, think about what you might build to make the process easier.

In this task, you will design and build one of the following devices to be used at the Materials Recovery Facility :

1. A Sorting or Separating Device
- When new materials are brought into the facility, the materials are sorted through before being shipped off to the next stage in the recycling process. The sorting or separating device should have some sort of mechanized parts to move the materials along (like a conveyor belt) and sort metals from paper.

2. A Pulverizer
– This mechanism that will be used to crush or compress metals, cans, paper, you-name-it, so that it will take up less space when they are transporting it to the next stage of the recycling process.

3. A Lifting - Grabbing Device
- When paper, wood, metal, soil, or other materials are brought into the recycling facility, they need to be moved to the baler, sorter, or just to another area for storage. The lifting - grabbing device would operate like a moving shovel or claw attached to a moving vehicle or to a tower.

4. A Dumping Mechanism
- This device should make it easier to move blue boxes or green bins into a larger collecting container like a cart or recycling truck. This device might also be used to dump materials onto the sorting device.

Other project designs are at the approval of your teacher.

In addition to the designing and building of your project, your teacher may ask you to complete additional tasks that are related to this assignment.

1. Understand the task. Ask questions to clarify what it is that you need to accomplish.
   
2. Make possible design sketches. Use labels and notes to help explain your ideas to others.
   
3. Select a design. Evaluate your design options and choose the one that you think is the best.
   
4. Make a prototype. Start building!
   
5. Test your prototype. Try it out to ensure it works the way you want it to.
   
6. Make any necessary modifications and record changes.
   
7. Communicate about your project. Your teacher may also ask you to prepare an oral presentation to will give you further instructions on how you will communicate about your project.

The following student work book will help guide you through this process. Click here for the Student Workbook:

Student Workbook

2. Student Work book - This student workbook will lead you through the design process.

Your teacher will be assessing you on your final product as well as how well you follow the steps to complete the project (i.e., how well you use materials, follow safety rules, test and make modifications, etc.)

Your teacher may use this rubric or one he/she develops on their own. Click on the files to view them.

Construction Rubric or Science and Technology Rubric

Math Rubric

Drama and Media Literacy Rubric

Art Rubric

Media Rubric

Writing Rubric

The following questions can be used to reflect upon or to guide yourself through an oral presentation or written summary (like a science journal).

What have you learned by completing this task?

What was the most difficult parts to this task?

What part of the task do you think you did well?

What might you do differently given the opportunity to do a similar task again?

Do you think your prototype would be an effective model for use in "real life"?

If you are interested in learning more about this subject matter, you can find related hyperlinks at Student Links 2 on the LDCSB "Intranet" Website.

* Note: This link is not licensed for home use by students