Below are links to Science Learning Hub resources for primary teachers related to recycling and biodegradability in the Material World strand of the New Zealand Curriculum.

Recycling and biodegradability are favourite topics from the Material World strand of the curriculum for primary teachers. Here are some helpful resources from the Hub.

The issue of waste

New Zealand generates almost 3.2 million tonnes of waste that is buried in landfill sites. Waste disposed of in this way is an inefficient use of resources, as much of the waste could have been separated and reused, recycled or turned into compost.

Waste management – Article

Oceans of rubbish – Article

Household waste – Image

Modern landfill systems

The way we dispose of wastes in New Zealand has changed dramatically over the last few decades. We have moved from literal dumps and tips to complex landfill systems. The following activities cover engineering practices, a timeline of rubbish disposal, waste management and minimisation in our local environments.

Structure of landfills – Article

Looking at modern landfill systems – Activity

Label the landfill – Activity

Modern landfill system – Interactive

Thinking about landfills – Activity

Biodegradability, recycling and reuse

A biodegradable object is one that will break down quickly and safely into harmless compounds by using the action of microorganisms. Composting is another name for biodegrading.

Biodegradability – Article

Biodegradability, compostability and bioplastics – Article

Measuring biodegradability – Article

Biodegradability experiment – Activity

Soil means life – Article

Observing soil microbes (composting) – Activity

Potato plates – This introductory article links to articles, media and student activities.

Testing the degradability of potato plates – Activity

Bioplastics – Article

The ZESPRI biospife – Article

Climate action – Article

Skateboards made out of harakeke? – Article

When you can make plastics that have an environmental benefit or don’t use fossil fuels, that gives me an extra drive and a passion to develop an end product.

Dr Martin Markotsis

Waste – a growing challenge! – Article, level 1–4 resources on waste and recycling

Plastic

There are exciting new developments in plastic waste recycling in New Zealand, find out more.

Plastics and recycling – Article

Flight Plastics recycling technology – Article

DIY plastic recycling plant – Activity

Plastic – reuse, recycle or rubbish game – Activity

What happens to our plastic bottles? – Activity

Plastic is a wicked problem. It’s incredibly useful, but it’s also a huge environmental issue. A helpful resource is Thinking about plastic – planning pathways which includes our interactive planning pathway – use this to begin a cross-curricular look at plastics.

New Zealand science organisations Royal Society Te Apārangi and the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor have created reports and resources to help us rethink plastic, included is an interactive timeline giving a short history plastic – innovations and some of the impacts.

Online citizen science

Citizen scientists are volunteers who contribute to scientific projects, usually by collecting or analysing data.

Discover how teacher Dianne Christenson used the online citizen science project The Plastic Tide to help develop students’ science capabilities in a unit on sustainability in this case study and unit plan.

Current citizen science projects you could participate in with your students:

    Published 1 July 2015, Updated 30 October 2020 Referencing Hub articles
        Go to full glossary
        Download all
        Email Us

        See our newsletters here.