Incubator Portfolio

By: Julia Sherinian

Topic: Helping the school recycle paper
 Note:
Many of my classmates have brought a crucial item of
this project to my attention:

If you are organizing a project that is supposed to

help recycle paper, then why would I print this paper and
the images on the recycled paper bins with non-recycled
paper?

Well, if you haven't noticed, this portfolio and the

paper used to print out the images for the bins that my
group created, are all printed USING RECYCLED
PAPER!

This work is on the back of a project that my brother

never finished using languages. He only used one side,
and he said I could use them for my project.

For the images on the box, me and my group asked

around the school for paper that was used on one side,
but not the other. We then fed these sheets of paper into
the printer on the back so that the printer would paste the
images on the side that wasn't used.

Thank you for recognizing this fact before you

continue reading:
 Table of Contents:

Introduction- Why I choose this topic

Action Plan: What steps took for my project

Mind map- Where all my brainstorming and ideas

came from

Research- Where all my knowledge came from

Research Summary- A compilation of all my research

Research Reflection: What I learned and how it

impacted my research

Action Phase Reflection- What I accomplished and

how I feel about it
Feedback Reflection- A reflection of our presentation
to the MYP 4/5 ‘s

Service in action- Communication and proof of service

project

Conclusion-Reflection on the outcomes of my project

 INTRODUCTION (Why I chose this topic):

The reason why I chose this topic is because I have always viewed
recycling is very important in order to help our world become a better place.
I decided to propose an idea at the beginning of the incubator term that I
was going to join a group that tries to solve a global issue (such as all the
recyclable items that are in the rubbish piles around the world) starting with
the school. Since I have always been trying to improve my personal
recycling in my household and at school, I have been trying to encourage
my peers to recycle their own things as well. I wanted to choose this topic
because I have seen the bins and how they are overflowing with recycled
paper and items and I wanted to change that.

MIND MAP (brainstorming & ideas):

WHAT? WHERE? WHEN?

We are doing a project about To start off, we are going to From now until Christmas
recycling. We are going to begin our project with the and maybe afterwards.
help the school be aware of FND 1,2, & 3 students at
recycling Gretry

HOW? WHO? WHY?

We are going to teach the My project is with Recycling is important

school about recycling in an Aymeric,Julia, Manon, and because it will help the world
assembly, and make sure Lisa become more sustainable. If
that the school actually we don't start somewhere,
recycles then it will never be done.

ACTION PLAN (What steps I took for my project)

1. Research about recycling and how it works
2. Find how much trash is in our rubbish bins per week
3. Prepare a presentation to inform the school
4. We are going to create a poster to make the school aware of of the recycling situation in
Maisons Laffitte and our school. Some features of those posters include:
a. Color
b. Neatness
c. Grabs the attention of the audience
d. Readable
e. Not too much information
5. Teach the school about recycling in an assembly
 6. Make the bins for recycling paper
7. Make sure the school recycles using our corresponding bins for it
8. Maybe create a house event with a competition to encourage students to recycle

In our poster/presentation I saw that our group did not communicate enough with each other as we
could have. We mostly just focused our own section of practicing what we we were going to say on our
poster. We didn't check our spelling and the MYP 4/5 thought that there was too much text and
information crammed in on the poster. I agree with most of their feedback including that we added too
much information, and we read off the poster too much.

Summary of what action I took:

We split up our group into the group making the bins and the group spreading the awareness which was
me and Aymerics job. We created a presentation that would show what we were doing, and also inform
them about the advantages of recycling paper and other items. While we were preparing that, Manon
and Lisa were counting and averaging all the usable paper

RESEARCH (where all my knowledge came from)

Source #1:
http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/importance.html Viewed on November 16th, 2018

My notes based on Source #1 Main question or idea

Point (i): Recycling is a form of waste management that is a process What is recycling?
involves reproducing waste and other used materials into reusable
products.

Point (ii): We should recycle because we formulate waste faster Why should we recycle?
than we recycle it. Waste is bad for the environment unless it it
disposes of properly and it put in the right bin.

Source #2:
https://www.maisonslaffitte.fr/index.php/Tri-
s%C3%A9lectif?idpage=566&afficheMenuContextuel=true Viewed on November 16th, 2018
 My notes based on Source #2 Main question or idea

Point (i): There are three types of waste collection bins: How is recycling going in
1. Grass and organic waste Maisons Laffitte?
2. Glass bottles
3. Cartons and cardboard boxes

Point (ii): There are not very many recycling programs in Maisons Are there any recycling
Laffitte. They do encourage you to ask specialists to take specific programs already in Maisons
electronics that cannot be disposed of in a regular fashion because Laffitte?
they have extremely toxic chemicals. Some of those electronics
include:
● Irons
● Washing machines
● Microwaves
● Refrigerators
● Tea kettles
● Toasters
● Computers

Source #3:
http://www.wecf.eu/english/articles/2017/04/toxic-toys.php Veiwed on: November 21th, 2018
My notes based on Source#3 Main question or idea

Point (i): Some people don't recycle because they believe that the Why don't people recycle?
harmful chemicals that are recycled plastics could hurt their
children and give them dangerous diseases.

Point (ii): OctaBDE, DecaBDE, HBCD which stands for What chemicals are in the
Octabromodiphenyl ether, Decabromodiphenyl ether, and recycled plastics that everyone
Hexabromocyclododecane. These are chemicals that are in most is afraid of?
recycled plastics.

Source #4
http://www.ecochem.com/t_compost_faq2.html Viewed on November 21, 2018
 My notes based on Source #4 Main question or idea

Point (i): Composting is the process of the breaking down of natural How does composting work?
decay of organic material, and turn back into dirt thanks to
scavengers whos manure and eating of the organics, actually create
the compost.

Point (ii): If we didn't compost then we would have just piles of Why should we compost?
organic waste tin the trash, that could be used to make grow better
crops, and to make the world a cleaner place.

Source #5
What-are-some-examples-of-waste-materials Viewed on November 22nd, 2018

My notes based on Source #5 Main question or idea

Point (i): Waste is just anything that is left over after any process, What is waste?
but not used.

Point (ii): What are some examples of

-Soap mixed with water when it goes down the drain is waste waste?
material
-Plastic forks, napkins, empty ketchup packets, (etc.)
-Leftover paint is waste material unless disposed of properly
-Burned out light bulbs

Source #6
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
recycling.php Viewed on ………… November 22nd, 2018

My notes based on Source #6 Main question or idea

 Point (i) Recycling creates less pollution, protects the environment, What are some positive points
minimizes global warming, conserves natural resources, and helps of recycling?
with more job openings.

Point (ii): Recycling can be very expensive, recycling sites can be What are some negative points
very unhygienic, recycled products usually don't last very long, of recycling?
and is not known on a large scale.

RESEARCH SUMMARY (a compilation of all my research)

Recycling is a form of waste management that is a process involves reproducing

waste and other used materials into reusable products. We should recycle because we
formulate waste faster than we recycle it. Waste is bad for the environment unless it it disposes
of properly and it put in the right bin. There are three types of waste collection bins: Grass
and organic waste, Glass bottles, and cartons and cardboard boxes. There are not very many
recycling programs in Maisons Laffitte.

They do encourage you to ask specialists to take specific electronics that cannot be
disposed of in a regular fashion because they have extremely toxic chemicals. Some of those
electronics include: irons, washing machines, microwaves, refrigerators, tea kettles, toasters, and
computers. Some people don't recycle because they believe that the harmful chemicals
that are recycled plastics could hurt their children and give them dangerous diseases.
OctaBDE, DecaBDE, HBCD which stands for Octabromodiphenyl ether, Decabromodiphenyl
ether, and Hexabromocyclododecane.

These are chemicals that are in most recycled plastics. Composting is the process of
the breaking down of natural decay of organic material, and turn back into dirt thanks to
scavengers whos manure and eating of the organics, actually create the compost. If we
didn't compost then we would have just piles of organic waste tin the trash, that could be used to
make grow better crops, and to make the world a cleaner place. Waste is just anything that is
left over after any process, but not used. Some examples of waste include:
-Soap mixed with water when it goes down the drain is waste material
-Plastic forks, napkins, empty ketchup packets, (etc.)
-Leftover paint is waste material unless disposed of properly
-Burned out light bulbs

There are many advantages to recycling. These include: Recycling creates less
pollution, protects the environment, minimizes global warming, conserves natural
resources, and helps with more job openings.
There are also disadvantages which are: Recycling can be very expensive, recycling sites can be
very unhygienic, recycled products usually don't last very long, and is not known on a large
scale.

RESEARCH REFLECTION (what I learned & how it impacted my

project)
I believe that my research on recycling really helped me with my understanding of what
recycling really is, and what the student body can do in order to achieve our goal. My goal is to
make the school better with recycling, and now that I am more informed, I can spread
awareness and knowledge more accurately to my teachers and classmates. My research
supports my views since it reflects my deep love with wanting to recycle. All the facts I have
seen has shown that if the world doesn't recycle, then we will run out of resources. I wanted to
help my fellow students understand how important it is to recycle paper. My research also
helped me realize how bad the recycling program is currently, and made me take a different
approach with informing my school. I decided to create a powerpoint presentation instead of
just putting posters around, since I saw that nobody really paid much attention to the writing
on the walls.

ACTION PHASE REFLECTION (What I accomplished and how I

feel)

What we first did is we split our group that would be working on different things. Manon
and Lisa were working on actually creating the bins for the recycled paper while Aymeric and I
were working on the presentation that we showed in assembly in front of the whole
international section. In our powerpoint presentation, I think we could have memorized our
speaking parts a bit more. In the end though, we were confident that the message came across
to our peers. The final bin for recycled paper went very well and the students are finally starting
to use it.

FEEDBACK REFLECTION (A reflection of our presentation to the

MYP 4/5 ‘s)
 In our poster/presentation I saw that our group did not communicate enough with each
other as we could have. We mostly just focused our own section of practicing what we we were
going to say on our poster. We didn't check our spelling and the MYP 4/5 thought that there
was too much text and information crammed in on the poster. I agree with most of their
feedback including that we added too much information, and we read off the poster too much.

CONCLUSION
I am very happy with what I achieved and I want to thank all my classmates, friends,
family, teachers, and staff who used their time and resources to help me carry out this project.
If you happened to know of anyone who doesn't recycle paper, now you can tell them how to
and why they should. I am proud to be part of the group that will hopefully inspire the next
generation to further continue making the world a better place.