Plastics and Earth Day STEM

By Amy Cowen on April 15, 2024 6:00 AM

Find science projects and STEM resources to explore environmental problems related to plastics for Earth Day.

Images of hydrogels around eggs - Earth Day projects about plastics and plastic alternatives

The theme of Earth Day 2024 is Planet vs. Plastics. This focus highlights the dangers of plastics for lifeforms, biodiversity, the environment, and the planet.

Addressing problems related to plastics involves a number of strategies, including:

Reducing the overall use of plastics
Finding alternatives to plastics
Prioritizing biodegradable materials
Improving approaches to recycling and reusing plastics
Reducing plastic pollution reaching waterways
Reducing single-use plastics
Reducing fast fashion
Building awareness of circular economy

Student Projects Related to Plastics and Environmental Science

Students can experiment with related topics in projects like these:

Turn Milk into Plastic!: experiment to see which recipe works best when making casein plastic from milk. What is the best ratio of vinegar to milk?
How long does trash last?: bury some everyday materials and dig them up later to see how biodegradable different materials are.
Do Your Storm Drains Keep the Ocean Trash Free?: investigate and test local grated storm drain inlets to see how effective they are at keeping plastic litter from entering stormwater drainage systems. Can you design improved models?
Disappearing Act: How Fast Do Different Biodegradable & Compostable Materials Decompose?: make your own indoor composter and experiment to see how different biodegradable and compostable items decompose.
Make Sustainable Fabrics from Seaweed: make biofabrics from alginate (seaweed) and experiment to see how the properties of the fabrics change based on the ingredients used.
Can Biodegradable Materials Replace Plastic as Protective Food Packaging?: make hydrogels from gelatin and cornstarch and investigate what ratio of ingredients makes the best packaging material.

New Environmental Engineering Lesson Plan!

In the Greywater Gadgetry lesson, from The Tech Interactive, students investigate how greywater can help with drought. They then design a two-part system for filtering greywater by removing solid waste and liquid waste.

What is greywater?: Greywater is water that is leftover after everyday activities like doing laundry and showering. (Water used in kitchens and toilets is not included in greywater.) For a related student project, see: Recycling Greywater: Can Plants Tolerate It?

Earth Day, Green Chemistry, UN SDGs, and More!

Educators can find additional resources for Earth Day in the following resource collections:

To further encourage students to do projects with real-world impact and to develop solutions for problems they care about, see:

Environmental Science & Engineering Success Stories

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