LESSON PLAN IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

I. Objectives
At the end of a 60-minute class, the students will be able to:
A. Know what are Solid and Hazardous wastes.
B. Apply the ways on how to segregate different wastes.
C. Sympathize the pollution that these wastes cause.

II. Subject Matter: Solid and Hazardous Waste

References: web.mnstate.edu

Materials: Powerpoint Presentation and DLP

III. Pre-Activity

Motivation: The class will be divided into two groups. The teacher will present a series of pictures of different
wastes, the students will try to guess whether the waste/garbage presented is recyclable or non-recyclable.

LESSON PROPER:

SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE

Modern humans produce huge amounts of waste that go unused and pollute.

Solid waste—any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is not a liquid or a gas. Industrial solid waste produced by
mines, agriculture, and industries that supply people with goods and services.
Municipal solid waste (MSW), consisting of the combined solid waste produced by homes and workplaces.
Hazardous, or toxic, waste threatens human health or the environment because it is poisonous, dangerously chemically reactive,
corrosive, or flammable. Examples include: Industrial solvents. Hospital medical waste. Car batteries. Household pesticide
products. Dry-cell batteries. Ash from incinerators and coal-burning power plants.

Classes of hazardous wastes are:

Organic compounds Various solvents, pesticides, PCBs, and dioxins.

Nondegradable toxic heavy metals Lead, mercury, and arsenic. Highly radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants and
nuclear weapons facilities.

HOW SHOULD WE DEAL WITH SOLID WASTE?

Waste reduction is based on three Rs:

Reduce: consume less and live a simpler lifestyle. Reuse: rely more on items that can be used repeatedly instead of on
throwaway items, and buy necessary items secondhand or borrow or rent them. Recycle: separate and recycle paper, glass, cans,
plastics, metal, and other items, and buy products made from recycled materials.

Strategies that industries and communities have used to reduce resource use, waste, and pollution: Redesign manufacturing
processes and products to use less material and energy.
Develop products that are easy to repair, reuse, remanufacture, compost, or recycle.

Eliminate or reduce unnecessary packaging. Charge consumers by amount of waste they throw away but provide free pickup of
recyclable and reusable items.

Establish cradle-to-grave responsibility laws that require companies to take back various discarded consumer products, such as
electronic equipment, appliances, and motor vehicles.

HOW SHOULD WE DEAL WITH HAZARDOUS WASTE?

Integrated management establishes three levels of priority: Produce less. Convert as much of it as possible to less hazardous
substances. Put the rest in long-term, safe storage. Industries try to find substitutes for toxic or hazardous materials, reuse or
recycle the hazardous materials within industrial processes, or use them as raw materials for making other products. Industrial
hazardous wastes are exchanged through clearinghouses where they are sold as raw materials for use by other industries. Most e-
waste recycling efforts create further hazards and can result in serious threats to other species.

WE CAN DETOXIFY HAZARDOUS WASTE

Bioremediation employs bacteria and enzymes that help destroy toxic or hazardous substances or convert them to harmless
compounds.
Phytoremediation involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from
polluted soil and water. Hazardous wastes can be incinerated to break them down and convert them to harmless or less harmful
chemicals such as carbon dioxide and water.

Detoxify hazardous wastes by using a plasma arc torch, somewhat similar to a welding torch, to incinerate them at very high
temperatures. We can store some forms of hazardous waste Burial on land or long-term storage of hazardous and toxic wastes
should be used only as the last resort.

Currently, burial on land is the most widely used method in the United States and in most countries, largely because it is the least
expensive of all methods. The most common form of burial is deep-well disposal. Liquid hazardous wastes are pumped under
pressure through a pipe into dry, porous rock formations far beneath aquifers that are tapped for drinking and irrigation water. We
can store some forms of hazardous waste Cost is low and the wastes can often be retrieved if problems develop. Problems with
deep-well disposal: Limited number of such sites and limited space within them. Wastes can leak into groundwater from the well
shaft or migrate into groundwater in unexpected ways. Encourages the production of hazardous wastes. We can store some forms
of hazardous waste Surface impoundments are ponds, pits, or lagoons in which wastes are stored. May have liners to help contain
the waste. 70% of the storage ponds in the United States have no liners. Eventually all impoundment liners are likely to leak and
could contaminate groundwater. Liquid and solid hazardous wastes can be put into drums or other containers and buried in
carefully designed and monitored secure hazardous waste landfills.

VI. Evaluation
The teacher will ask students questions in relation to the topic.

Reporters:

Penuela, Faye Rovi Parreño

Juadiong, Aliyah