Where Our Rubbish Goes

Lab Brief #16

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

The first design always fails. That's the point.

What you'll learn

Most household waste is buried in landfill, where it breaks down slowly or not at all. Sorting waste at the point it is thrown away is what makes recycling possible, because mixed waste is far harder to separate later.

Key words

landfill
A site where waste is buried in the ground.
sorting
Separating waste into types so each can be recycled or disposed of properly.

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: what's the weakest part of this build?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

kitchen scale
gloves
graph paper

⚠️ Safety first

Wear gloves to sort waste and wash hands thoroughly afterwards.
Do not handle sharp objects, broken glass or food waste.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "landfill" and "sorting" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Weigh one day of your classroom bin, sorted into paper, plastic, food and other. Draw a bar chart of the four masses and write one action that would cut the largest category.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Most household waste that is not recycled goes to:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Recycling is easier when waste is:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🛠️ The first computer bug was a literal moth stuck inside a machine in 1947.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Every bridge, building, and gadget you've ever used started with this.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find something that's broken at home and try to figure out *why* it broke.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's something around the house you'd redesign — and how?”

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