Trash Timeline

There are lots of different versions of this floating around on the Internet but I like to do a homemade version.

Trash Timeline (PDF)
Leave No Trace

At camp, we've found that doing this first thing in the morning on Monday, after the initial morning circle (names and rules), is the best time to really grab kids' attention. It also makes sense to do it right away if the next thing on Monday is going to be fort building out in the woods. I like to have real trash and not printed pictures. The only hard thing for that is to remember to have an orange! If you want to have this project packed up in a bag (we use a reusable grocery bag to store it in), and ready at all times, you may want a photograph for the biodegradable fruit/vegetable of your choice.

If you are doing this as a family, you have a few options. You could do it with your kids (choose a piece of trash and Google how long it takes to decompose), or prepare it in advance. I like to use the Montessori approach and have it be self-checking, so I put the answer on the back of each TIME card. I just used index cards, as you can see from the pictures. Index cards make sense to me, because if you use preprinted cards and then you Google something and the length of time is different, or you want to add a new item, you can add, remove, and modify cards from this activity and no one can tell. Index cards all look alike!

I prefer to lay the TIME cards on the ground in chronological order and pass out the pieces of trash, one per child, and then ask them to place the trash by the TIME card they think goes with it. This allows a child who is stumped to do some comparisions as part of the thinking projecess, ie. would this take more time or less time than the other objects that are already placed by the cards on the ground?

Here are the cards and items that we have in the bag right now.

piece of paper

orange

cigarette butts

wool sock

plastic grocery bag

disposable diaper

nylon webbing

plastic soda can rings

aluminum soda can

plastic bottle

glass bottle

Styrofoam

Notes & Sources:

https://lnt.org/skills-series-trash-timeline/
"Remember, there are numerous factors that contribute to decomposition including: sunlight, oxygen, elevation, aspect, season, soil type, soil chemistry, moisture, the item itself that is decomposing, etc. The point is, many of these items take much longer than we might think to decompose and we must dispose of waste properly anytime we are in the outdoors."

This post also has Disposable Diapers as 450 years, so I am going to change our card for that.

And I will add Monofilament Fishing Line (600 years according to this post). Pack it in, pack it out!

https://chariotenergy.com/blog/how-long-until-plastic-decomposes/
I also want to take out the Plastic Grocery Bag and replace it with Plastic Straw (200 years according to this post) and add Toothbrush (500 years according to this post).

That would give me a total list of
piece of paper - 1 to 3 months
orange - 1 to 5 years
cigarette butts - 1 to 5 years
wool sock - 1 to 5 years
nylon webbing - 30 to 40 years
plastic soda can rings - 120 years
aluminum soda can - 100 to 150 years
plastic straw - 200 years
disposable diaper - 450 years
toothbrush - 500 years
plastic bottle - 500 years
monofilament fishing line - 600 years
glass bottle - 1 million years
Styrofoam - forever

I DO think it is important to come back to this lesson on Monday afternoon and talk about some things that have been invented to reduce all this waste! I like to show them backyard compostable "foil" candy wrappers (Alter Ego Organic Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Bombs) as well as organic beeswax food wraps to replace plastic wrap for keeping food fresh.

Once I add in the plastic straw and the plastic toothbrush, I can show them paper straws and bamboo toothbrushes.

And, last but not least, we love to make up a sensory bin using a kiddie pool full of warm water and some biodegradable starch packing peanuts for them to squish and squeeze and watch dissolve. So fun!!!!

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