Teaching Sequence

15 minutes

Tune in: Want not, waste not

15 minutes

Find out: Snack time!

20 minutes

Take action: Repack that snack

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: Want not, waste not

Step 1

Ask your students:

What do we eat that comes in a package? Write down everything the students say in a list.

If students are getting stuck, you can prompt them with:

What is your favourite snack?
What snacks do you get as a special treat?
What snack do you want to try?

Step 2

Wow, that is a lot of packages! Okay, so when our snack is finished, where do all the packages go? Show your students the following video:

Bin Audit - Behind the News

Great, now we know what goes in the different bins, let’s take a look at our snacks from earlier.

Find Out: Snack time!

Step 1

Let’s start with: Why are the foods we eat packaged? Your students may suggest that without a package:

they might get squished or broken
they wouldn’t stay fresh and yummy
they would make a mess
they would be tricky to eat

You can get a little ridiculous here! What would happen if you put sultanas in your backpack without a container? Or cheese? Or even yogurt?

Step 2

Let’s look at the different packages our snacks come in when we buy them from the supermarket. Remember, some can be packaged in different ways! Look at our list from before and divide the packages into 4 categories like this:

Soft plastic	Firm plastic	Cardboard	No packaging
Chips	Cheese and crackers	Sultanas	Grapes
Cookies	Yogurt	Crackers	Carrots
Yogurt	Fruit cups	Museli bars	Cucumber
String cheese	Jelly		Apples
Cucumber	Mini cucumbers		Bananas
Carrots	Strawberries

What do we do to these snacks once we get them home? Do we put them in different packages to bring them to school?

Step 3

Ask your students to re-think the packaging of these snacks. What would be a more sustainable way to pack them? Students may suggest:

re-useable containers (glass, metal, plastic, wood, beeswax wraps, cloth bags)
recyclable containers (glass, metal, cardboard, paper, plastic)
compostable containers (cotton, wood, paper/cardboard, beeswax wraps, leaves and other organics)
reducing the amount of packaging, e.g. buying a large packet instead of individual serving sizes and dividing it up at home.

There are more and more ‘biodegradable plastics’ coming into the market, and these can be a little tricky! Some of these require industrial composting facilities to break down and will still behave like plastic in your home compost or in the ocean. Others contain Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS), and while not technically plastic, are still ‘forever chemicals’ with health and environmental implications.

Take Action: Repack that snack

Step 1

For this activity, we are going to pretend we have an unlimited budget, and our only concerns are preserving the quality of the snack and creating the most sustainable package. Have students choose a snack from their list whose packaging could be improved to be more sustainable. Ask them to write this snack on their worksheet. They will be rethinking the design of this package with the goal of reducing waste.

Step 2

Have students work through the following questions:

Do I need to contain liquid/juice from my snack?
Do I need to prevent my snack from being broken/crushed?
Do I need to contain grease from my snack?
Do I need to contain crumbs from my snack?
Does my snack need to be in an airtight container?

Next, how can we make the packaging as sustainable as possible?

Can the packaging be reused?
Can the packaging be recycled?
Is it convenient to recycle? At home?
Can all parts of the packaging be recycled e.g. label, lid, container?
Can we make it so less material is used in the packaging?

This will help them choose appropriate materials for their packaging. If their snack leaks, there may be better options than cardboard! If it can be crushed, a cloth bag won’t keep it safe.

Next, we need to think about how big our packaging should be:

How big is one serving of my snack?
What volume will my container need to have to fit this snack?

Now we have our criteria, students can start to sketch out their ideas. On their worksheet, students can draw their packaging ideas. Encourage them to use labels and arrows to explain the different components of their package and their awesome ideas. Additionally, they could:

use Recycling Near You to identify how the consumer manages the packaging

Learning support: An alternative to designing a new package from scratch would be to present students with the following eco-friendly packaging options, ask them to select one, and then explain why they think this option would work for their snack.

drawstring cloth bag
cardboard box
glass jar

Numeracy extension: This is a great opportunity to tie into mathematical concepts. Students could measure and calculate the volume and weight of their snacks. They could take apart other packages and record observations about the 2D net used to make it before designing their own.

Literacy Extension: Students could write an elevator pitch for their design and present their concept to the class.

Reflection

Have students conduct a Good. Bad, Better on their snack design. If you intend to extend this activity to having students create their design, they can use this reflection to modify their concepts before creating their prototype.

Pack a Snack

Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

Pack a Snack

Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables