Grade level: 5th – 6th grades
Skills: Percentage
Related environmental issues: Recycling
Our county has been at a loss how to treat our plastic waste. The United States used to ship 70% of our plastic waste to China to reduce plastic waste in our county. However, after China stopped accepting internaitonal plastic waste to protect their environment last year, less plastic is recycled because we generate more plastic waste than we can handle.
Plastic Waste Photo: National Geographic
- On average, 150 plastic bottles are consumed by a single person in the United States. Of which, 29% of the plastic bottles were recycled in 2017. How many plastic bottles were recycled per person in 2017 on average? Round to the nearest whole number.
- On average, how many plastic bottles were NOT recycled and ended up in landfills per person in 2017?
- Ben started using his water bottle and reduce his plastic bottle use to 100 bottles per year. If he recycles 29% of the plastic bottles as the average American does, how many plastic bottles will he send to landfills a year?
- Is the number of plastic bottles Ben sends to landfills larger or smaller than the U.S. average?
Sources:
Recycling Today, 2018. Plastic bottle recycling rate declines in 2017.
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Answer keys
- 44 bottles (150 x 0.29 = 43.5)
- 106 bottles (150 – 44 = 106)
- 71 bottles (100 – 29 = 71)
- Smaller