1. How can/do YOU reduce the amount of waste and pollution that you create?  In other words, describe 3 things that you can do/already do to reduce, reuse and recycle more.

2. The City of Phoenix recently started a program called “Save as You Reduce and Recycle”, in which families are charged less for waste services (i.e., removal of their solid waste) if they opt to have a smaller trash can, as shown in the first video below.  ( You can read more about the City of Phoenix program at https://www.phoenix.gov/publicworks/recycling/green-organics-and-say-r-r.) This is one form of a “pay as you throw” policy, in which people are charged less or more based on how much waste they generate. In Massachusetts, about 40% of communities have adopted “pay as you throw” programs and these communities only generate 63% of the waste of other, similar communities (from http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dep/recycle/reduce/paytfast.pdf. )

a. Do you think that more cities should adopt “pay as you throw” policies? Why or why not?

b.  Would you recycle and/or compost more of your waste if your city had a “pay as you throw” policy?

3. Describe one environmental impact of waste in/near your community.  For example, see the brief video (2nd one below) for one idea about the impact of plastics in ocean environments.