Looking for a helpful project for teens on the environment? Many of us learned about reducing, reusing, and recycling in school. These ideas can easily be used in a classroom project and shared with young people in the future. Several activities can help students learn how to apply these ideas daily.

You can find new uses for reuse and recycling by adding them to different student subjects. Many of these projects can work for any grade level.

Environmental Classroom Projects: Observe how organic and inorganic materials decompose.

Subjects: Science, language arts

Teaching students to reduce, reuse, and recycle is a valuable life lesson. A hands-on activity can help them understand how materials break down, including insights about the local landfill.

Start by picking several organic and inorganic materials to examine. Ask your students to guess how long each will take to break down. They should keep a journal of what they see. Younger students can draw the materials, and older students can write notes about what they observe.

This lesson shows that organic materials break down faster than inorganic materials. Inorganic materials can remain in landfills for a long time, but there are now ways to recycle many of them.

Environmental Classroom Projects: Start a compost project.

Subjects: Science

Composting is a good way to reuse organic materials that usually end up in landfills.

This project can be done in your classroom or outside on school grounds. Use this project to show how natural materials break down. You can also use a journal for this project. They can write down what they see as your compost project develops over time.

Environmental Classroom Projects: Make your paper.

Subject: Art Environmental Classroom Projects

One of the best ways to learn about recycling is to try recycling materials yourself! First, you need to prepare several materials to make paper from scraps. The steps to make paper are online.

Environmental Classroom Projects: Calculate your impact on the environment.

Subject: Math Environmental Science Classroom Projects

Everyone wants to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. This is a great way to help make a big environmental impact, which can lead to a big impact on our planet. When we use less, we can see how it affects the environment. Here is a list of ideas to think about:

• Calculate how much trash each student generates daily, week, month, and year.
• Please find out how much trash their family, school, city, town, and state make yearly.
• How can they lower their CO2 emissions? Calculate how much CO2 your family could save by using public transport to school and work, which can contribute to better air quality. Consider using energy-saving lightbulbs at home. You could also try a vegetarian or vegan diet.
• If each student cuts their CO2 emissions by 1/3, how much CO2 would they avoid? How much CO2 would they create?

Environmental Projects: Home Energy Audit

Subjects: Math, science with an engineering component

Have students write down all the appliances and light bulbs in their homes. If all the lights stay on for four hours daily, how much energy does their house use? How much energy could they save by changing to better appliances?

You can help younger students see how much energy home appliances use, making the project easier for them. For older students, you can teach them to use a watt meter. Then, they can measure how much energy they use.

Environmental Classroom Projects: Local business energy audit

Subjects:A Math, science with an engineering component

You can take your energy audit project to a nearby business. Could you find out how much trash they produce? Check how many appliances they use each day. Are there ways for them to cut down on waste or CO2 emissions? With the savings, what amount of CO2 emissions could be lowered? For a more straightforward project, estimate how much junk they have. Older students can call or visit these local businesses for energy audits.

Write proposals to companies and lawmakers.

Subjects: Language arts, civics

We usually discuss what we can do to reduce, reuse, recycle, and promote sustainability. You can ask your students to practice this at home with their families. However, industrial actions and wildfires are the most significant causes of climate change and contribute to global warming. Team up with local businesses or lawmakers to make a more significant impact on CO2 emissions. For example, a second grader might get a regional fast-food chain to use more recycled products.

Have your students find local businesses or people in the government to reach out to. Have your students write a letter to these people. Ask them to lower their CO2 emissions. They can share ideas like composting food scraps, recycling more, or calling for laws to protect local forests. Help students think about who should get the letter. Decide what action you want the business or government official to take. Then, write a letter that highlights why this action matters.

Research project

Subjects: History, social studies, with an optional technology component.

Older students can work on research projects. They can show their results in a paper or a presentation to the class. You can add a tech part by having students use Prezi or PowerPoint for their presentations. Here are some ideas:

• Find an organization that supports the local community by reducing, reusing, or recycling. What services do they offer? How do they help lessen our effect on the environment?
• How can we fix or use items again instead of tossing them out?
• What important historical events are connected to reducing, reusing, and recycling? Think about laws, practices, or inventions.
• How do different countries worldwide reduce, reuse, or recycle?

Adding reuse and recycling to various student subjects can make them feel fresh. Many projects can be modified to fit any grade.