Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Tune In: What is e-waste?

40 minutes

Find Out: What happens to your devices when you’re finished with them?

30 minutes

Take Action: How do we make a difference?

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: What is e-waste?

Step 1

Ask the students to answer the following questions by standing up if the statement applies to them:

Who has small electronic devices? For example, laptops, mobile phones, iPads, earphones, gaming consoles, power banks, and charging cables.
Who has more than 5? More than 10? More than 15?
Who has recently upgraded a device?

Choose a student/students who have upgraded and ask them:

Why did they upgrade?
What did they do with their old devices?
What are they planning to do with their old devices? Why?

Lead a discussion with students using the following prompts:

What are the positives that come from the use of technology?
Where do old devices go when we don’t use them anymore?
Are they being utilised well?

Explain to students that e-waste is essentially any electronic item that is no longer working or wanted.

Step 2

Watch the following video:

What is E-Waste? - Closing the E-loop Topic Overview (vimeo.com/866569030/1d731b33a4?share=copy)

Find Out: What happens to your devices when you’re finished with them?

Step 1

Watch the following video:

The Life of HDMI #015 (https://vimeo.com/866198009?share=copy

Ask students the following questions:

Based on the videos you have seen, what is e-waste?
How does this make you think about the life cycle of your own devices?

Step 2

Watch this video and explain to students that this is an ideal example of what can happen at the end of your use of a phone:

What happens when you recycle? - MobileMuster (https://vimeo.com/349554548)

Ask students to complete the See, Think Wonder Visible Thinking routine on their worksheets to reflect on the video.

You might like to prompt their thinking using the following questions:

Did you know phones could be recycled like this?
What surprises you about the recycling process?
Are all phones recycled?
What does that mean for the environment if we don’t recycle old phones?

Step 3

If you haven’t talked about them in your class before, introduce the LINEAR economy and the CIRCULAR economy to your class by showing them the images of each on the attached Visual Explainer.

Discuss the differences between these two economies by asking students what they notice about each one, their potential advantages/limitations, and which is preferable. They could write their answers in the space provided in the student worksheet.

Suggested discussion points:

Linear economy doesn’t consider the end of a product's life.
Circular economy aims to reduce emissions by reducing raw material extraction and putting resources back into the cycle rather than in a landfill. This is referred to as ‘Closing the E-Loop’.

Step 4

Introduce the concept of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to your class. Considering what they have learned so far, ask them what this term might mean. Ask them to write their answers into their student worksheet.

Step 5

Show the following interview, created specifically for this unit, with an environmental engineer who specialises in life cycle analysis at an organisation called Lifecycles, which helps businesses understand the impacts they are having on society and the environment by analysing the life cycle of their products.

Lifecycles (https://vimeo.com/863827684?share=copy)

If you or your class are interested in learning further about life cycle analysis we have a longer, more detailed version of the Lifecycles interview available, as well as an interview with the organisation Planet Price, who aim to reduce the impact that supply chains have on the planet by using AI technology to measure and analyse the hidden costs behind products across their life cycle.
Lifecycles interview
Planet Price interview

Explain to students that an LCA can identify areas of waste that companies, designers and manufacturers need to address to close the e-loop and create a more circular economy. Advise that a life cycle assessment measures the environmental impacts of a product or service through the following 5 steps. Ask students to write these 5 steps down in their student worksheet.

The 5 Steps of a Product Life Cycle (Cradle to Grave)

Raw Material Extraction
Manufacturing & Processing
Transportation
Usage & Retail
Waste Disposal

Source: https://ecochain.com/knowledge/life-cycle-assessment-lca-guide/

Step 6

Divide students into groups of 3-4 and allocate each group a case study from the list below.

Ask them to respond to the following questions in their worksheet and focus on the following information in their research:

How does this organisation utilise the circular economy model?

How do they close the e-loop?
What social and environmental impacts does this have?
What benefits are there?
What are the issues they have encountered?

Organisation and link to their website	Interviews for insights into how these organisations are a part of the circular economy
Comsol	Interview with Comsol
Project Re-Play	Interview with Project Re-Play
Circonomy	Interview with Circonomy
Closing the Loop	Interview with Closing the Loop
Fairphone	Interview with Fairphone
Schneider Electric	Interview with Schneider Electric
AppCyclers	Interview with AppCyclers
Inrego	Interview with Inrego

Take Action: How do we make a difference?

Step 1

Invite students in their groups to create an action plan for avoiding e-waste for a particular product they own. Encourage students to use their learnings from the case studies to create a quick action plan for how they could make a personal impact on closing the e-loop from their actions with just one product.

You may like to prompt students using the following:

How would you change how you use the product?
What would need to be done for you to dispose of it?
How would you dispose of it?
What would you like to see done with it?

You may like to distribute some or all of the following factsheets for students to think about how to create their action plan:
Designing for the Environment
Design Factors to Consider
Designing for the Future: Innovations and Opportunities

Step 2

Review the students' learning by getting them to present to the class in groups. Ask students to present their responses to the questions and their proposal for action regarding a personal electronic device.

Reflection

Use the Think, Feel, Care Visible Thinking routine to reflect on today's lesson.

Ask students to answer the questions in their student worksheet

THINK - What do you know about the electronics economy and your role in it?
FEEL - What is your emotional response to the electronics economy and your role in it?
CARE - What is important about this economy to you, now and in the future?

Circular Economies for Electronic Waste

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