Performance Task #4

Name: ___________________________________ Date Performed: _____________

Section_______________________ Date Submitted:______________ Rating:____________

Personal Solid Waste Inventory

Objective: Determine the amount of solid waste we generate from our daily activities

Procedure:
1. For the next seven days, record all the materials you use. Materials recorded should
include all solid waste as well as any items that may be recycled or reused in some way.
Examples of items to be recorded include paper, plastic bags, food wrappers, beverage
containers, product packaging (shampoo bottles, deodorant containers, toothpaste tubes,
etc), newspapers, aluminum foil, cardboard boxes, paperboard roll from toilet paper, and
so on.
2. Keep a running inventory of your solid wastes throughout the week, with a final tally of
number of items in each major material category (e.g. paper, plastic, aluminum, etc) being
tabulated at the end of this time period.
3. In addition to tallying all of your waste materials by category, you must also weigh your
waste materials by category to calculate a total mass of all of your materials for the week.
Include an inventory of organic waste generated in the preparation of your meals at home.
Weight it and divide it by the number of persons in your household.
4. From this point, you can then calculate the mass of your annual solid waste production
based on this seven-day period.

Table for waste generated (Seven-day period)

You can add rows and column

Questions:
1. Based on the tallied results, which type of solid waste do you produce most?
2. Why do you think you produce so much of this type of waste?
3. Give concrete ways that will help you minimize the solid waste you generate.
4. Suggest ways on how a school and community can reduce their solid waste.