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Give Plastic Waste Another

Chance
Bavarian International School
Gr. 10
3469 words
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Table of Contents Page #

Section 1: Introduction 3,4

Section 2: Planning 4,5

Section 3: Taking Action 6,7,8

Section 4: Reflecting 8,9

Section 5: Bibliography 11

Section 6: Appendix 12-19

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Introduction

My Goal
Early on in my life I realized there were many things that were wrong with our society.
Sometimes, I would sit down and make a list of these problems. I always knew I had to make
changes myself for things to happen. I never knew how to do this or where to start. When the
Personal Project came a long, I knew that this would be a good opportunity for me to create
awareness and take action myself. My main goal was to create awareness of plastic waste and
what affects it can have on our environment. I realized that plastic waste is a very broad topic,
so I decided to narrow it down and only research plastic bottles and bottle caps. I focused on
bottles and bottle caps because in my school I see that people leave their bottles and bottle
caps around campus. I wanted to show that that bottles and bottle caps are valuable (each
bottle is worth 15-25 cents). I then thought I could manufacture an object that would help me
show what can be done with so-called trash. I wanted to show that that the things we throw
away are useable and valuable. The product I made had to be related to sports because I am a
sport fanatic. After discussing my ideas with my parents, I decided to make a skateboard. The
skateboard was going to be made only out of plastic bottle caps. I decided on this because I was
interested in recycling and this was a great way to recycle plastic and make a cool new object.

My global context is Globalization and Sustainability. I wanted to research about how plastic
waste is accumulated globally and how we could use it in a more sustainable way, thus my
connection to the context of Globalization and Sustainability. I knew I could take action myself
by collecting bottles and caps from school and friends. I also knew I wanted to create
awareness on a manageable level, within the BIS school. Another thing I wanted to do after I
created awareness was to sell my product made of plastic waste, to show what can be done
and to encourage recycling and reusing. Once I had come up with my goal I made a general
inquiry question which helped guide my project. How does plastic waste affect our world today
and what can be done to prevent plastic waste?

Prior Knowledge
Before I started this project I had a broad knowledge of plastic waste and how we treated it.
Therefore, when I started this project I was able to ease into it easily. I then just researched the
specifics. What I knew before we started this project was some vague information about plastic
waste and what affects it had on the environment. I knew that there were different types of
plastic and that some could be recycled and some not, but I couldn’t put a name to them. I had
learned a little about recycling from school. My father is also a chemist and he had shared some
information about the types of plastic as well. I also knew that for my project to succeed I had
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to create awareness, but I did not know how I would achieve this. Usually people do
presentations or speeches, but I thought that this was boring. I wanted to physically make
something that would show and convince people how valuable plastic actually is and that we
shouldn’t waste it. I wanted to show them what can be done with plastic, so that they would
care enough to recycle themselves.

Research Skills
At the beginning of the project I had a few research skills. I knew how to use the internet for
research. I learned this from other school projects and also from personal use. I never really
liked reading books, so I didn’t have the skills to find information in books. Therefore, I asked
the librarian to teach me how to find books on my topic to research plastic waste. Another skill
that I did not really have before the project was the skill of interviewing someone. To fulfill one
of my criteria, which was making the skateboard, I had to travel to the Netherlands. Before this
I learned how to interview someone from my dad. There were some important things that I had
to remember and do. I had to look the person in the eye when he was talking. I had to be
prepared to ask him questions. I had to dress for the occasion and had to be on time. These
things all contributed to a good interview. We discussed what I wanted to learn from my
interview and I then made up a lot of questions that I could ask Marius, the owner of the
company. When I arrived at the company, to my surprise, everything was very relaxed. We
talked first, had a drink, then made the skateboard, had lunch together and then I was able to
interview Marius. This interview was vital to my project because this is where I got almost all of
my information from. Interviewing Marius Smit was a great experience for me because it
helped me realize that interviewing someone is not that bad and it can actually help you a lot. It
gives you the opportunity to get the information you need right from the source, which makes
it very reliable. Therefore, I think that it was important for me to have experienced this and I
think that this will help me in the future.

The Criteria
To get a clear idea of my goal for this project and what I want to achieve I made some success
criteria which I could check off as I progressed in my project. I made these criteria together
with my mentor. These criteria were based on my ideas of what I wanted to achieve with my
personal project.
1) I will answer the following questions
What plastics are made of and how they are disposed of?
Is the way we are disposing of our plastic now, a sustainable way?
Where does the waste stream go?
Negative effects of plastic on animals?
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How long does the plastic waste last?

Different types of plastic?
Can any type of plastic be recycled? What problems could occur?
Difference in plastic bottles and bottle caps as far as recyclability?

2) I will make a slideshow showing all the creative uses of plastic bottle caps (minimum 4).
Will be done by end of October.
3) I will build a working skateboard out of plastic bottle caps to use as a tool in my
presentation.
4) I will raise awareness by making a presentation about the environmental effects of
plastic waste, how we can better recycle this waste and how I collected waste and made
something cool and useable out of it to help explain my personal project).
5) I will also present my project at the final exhibition to create awareness.

Planning

To succeed in this project, I had to do a lot of planning. I started thinking about my project in
summer. I sat down and spoke to my parents about the personal project on the 15 of August.
We spoke about some of my interests and how I could use those in my personal project. They
told me about a guy who gave a lecture at a seminar they went to, who had made boats out of
plastic waste. With these boats he would take people fishing for plastic waste and with the
plastic waste he collected, he would make new boats. I looked up his website and read about
him. I also noticed he had another company called Waste Boards, that made skateboards out of
plastic bottle caps, I decided that I wanted to base my personal project on this idea of turning
plastic waste into these cool boards made of plastic bottle caps. I started to plan how to get
bottle caps on the 20th of August. I wrote emails to my neighbors and friends to ask if they
would be so kind to collect bottles and bottle caps for me. On September 2, I also started to
collect bottles and caps at school. I had to collect the bottles so that I could go to the store,
before I went to the Netherlands, and get the money back. With this money I could pay for the
wheels of the board. The bottle caps I was collecting were to make the actual board out of. I
then made a detailed action plan to help organize my time. Unfortunately, I never really used
the plan, which was a mistake. Using this plan would have helped my time management and
therefore, my project as well. Meanwhile I was writing emails back and forth with the owner of
Waste boards, Marius Smit. I was organizing a meeting with him to make a board and interview
him. I was then able to start planning the trip to the Netherlands. I had to find time where I did
not have school and my dad was able to go on a trip to the Netherlands with me. I also had to
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find time to hand in the bottles, separate them in to colors and brands and then I also had to
think of a cool looking design. I did all this from the 20-29th of October. While we were driving
to the Netherlands I was also planning my interview questions for Marius and his colleagues. I
had to have enough and perfect questions so that I could get the most information out of my
short time with him. On November 1, I was able to spend about 8 hours at his company,
however only 1 of those hours were with the owner, Marius.. I also had to plan in some time
each day to write a small paragraph about what I had done in my process journal. Once I had
made my board and a presentation about my personal project I organized a presentation in
front of the 4th graders to raise awareness about plastic waste. Evidence of these events are in
the appendix. They explain what problems I experienced during these events, what I did to
overcome them and explains the events.

Self-Management
The skills that I had before the project began were to be organized and to stay on task. I made
times specifically to work on my project and it was easy to focus because I was very interested
in this global context and the subject of plastic waste. But it was important for me to do some
of my project every day or at least every week to keep to my schedule. I knew If I wouldn’t have
done this, I wouldn’t have been able to finish my project on time. I needed to keep in contact
with my mentor and ask questions. I tend to be a procrastinator, so I had to keep checking
myself. This did not always work very well because I was not hard enough on myself. Next time
I would just plan better, not procrastinate and follow my action plan. I could also try and plan
backwards from the due date. The time management skills I developed during the project were
to write times down in my calendar which would ring. Then I would know that this is the time to
do my personal project and nothing else.
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Taking Action

Achieving my Goal
I feel like I did achieve my goals. I researched the problem of plastic waste and answered my
questions about plastic waste and how it affects animals, our environment and our society.
Plastic waste kills animals in the ocean and on land because they think that plastic is edible.
Also plastic waste affects our society. For example, almost all our trash in Germany gets sent to
other countries in Africa where it is either burned or thrown in a dumpster as this is much
cheaper than recycling it. This adversely affects the living standards in Africa However, we can
do a lot to prevent plastic waste by recycling, reusing and getting companies to use the same
types of reuseable plastics. We could start using material that is bio degradable so we can just
throw it away. We can start using the plastic waste to make new things like skateboards, shoes,
pottery or even houses. I think that there is a lot we can do, but people are just making excuses
not to do anything. To do my own part in changing our world, I took action by collecting plastic
waste from school, family and friends. I then turned in the bottles collected and received
money for these bottles which I put toward the making of my board. I then traveled to the
Netherlands, interviewed Marius Smit about his company and proceeded to make a working
skateboard out of plastic bottle caps. I did research about plastic waste, its effects on the
environment and made a presentation that I successfully presented in a 4th grade class to raise
awareness about my project. I gathered most of my information from Marius through the
interview. The other information was found on websites which are cited in the bibliography

Thinking Skills
I was able relate to the project and therefore was able to think about the project at all times.
This allowed me to solve problems a lot easier and finish the project more quickly. I had a lot of
general knowledge about this topic and if I didn’t know something I was able to look it up or
how find someone who knew the answer. But I never really made the connection between the
information that I found and my prior knowledge. This means that if I found new information
about animals being affected by plastic waste in the ocean, sometimes I couldn’t not make the
connection between that and some prior knowledge that I had. For example, that we transport
our trash to Africa and then they either burn it or just throw it in the oceans. This causes a lot of
other problems then too. But most of all it just makes our life’s better and easier. This is why
we deport our trash. It is cheaper to let other people deal with our trash.

Communication & Social Skills

Usually I am not very good at communicating. I did not like to ask people questions because I
was very shy. However, I overcame this fear and now it is easier for me. I thought of it as just
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going to talk to some kids that I knew or an adult which I was friends with. I had to ask my
mentor questions, the 4th grade teacher and Marius. I am now more confident and am able to
think of questions on the spot without feeling pressure. I think that I really did improve my
communication skills because I had to use these a lot through the process of the personal
project. I learned to think of my mentor as a person which was going to help me and wouldn’t
think badly of me if I did something wrong. Therefore, I was very open and shared my ideas and
thoughts with her without any issues.

Reflecting

Evaluating
Overall I think that my project went very well. I achieved all my goals that I set for myself. The
goals that I achieved were making the skateboard, presenting my project to the 4 th grade
successfully and write into my process journal every time after I did something related to the
project. I gained a lot of knowledge about my topic through my research. I was able to answer
all my research questions.
I gained a deeper understanding of the problem that we are facing by being able to interview
Waste boards and researching plastic waste. These things gave me the chance to understand
what my product was about on a deeper level. I was able to figure out almost everything about
plastic bottle waste and how it affects animals, the environment and our earth. Also I was able
to understand and see for myself first-hand how a waste board is made. This showed me what
can be done with plastic waste and that it is actually a very valuable source. I also developed my
communication skills which was not a goal of mine, but was an added skill learned from this
project. My skateboard was definitely the highlight of my project. It took a lot of planning and
time, but in the end it turned out great and really made my project whole. During this project I
collected bottles and bottle caps very effectively. However, at the end when I counted the
bottle caps I didn’t not have enough. I overcame this problem when I was on the way to the
Netherlands. We stopped at a grocery store and I asked if I could take some bottle caps off of
their bottles and they said yes. However, next time I would try to find some more methods to
get the materials I need so that I have more rather than less. Once I got to the Netherlands and
showed the guys my bottle caps they sadly told me that my caps were the wrong plastic,
therefore I could not use some of them. The bottle caps were made of three different plastics,
which meant they would melt at different temperatures. Luckily, they were able to provide the
correct bottle caps for me. If companies all used the same type of plastic in their bottle caps,
then recycling would be a lot easier and more efficient. Having standardized bottle caps for
every company would be more sustainable in the long run because we wouldn’t have as much
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plastic waste.. In the end, I did give them all the money I made from collecting the bottles
which was about 80 euros. Next time I would change how I use my time. I think that I did use
my time well in the project, but I think that I could have done it better. I could have done some
of my project every single day, so that I would have a consecutive plan. I should have made a
calendar for each day and planned my time that way. During my time in the Netherlands I
gathered most of the information that I used. However, most of it was only from one or two
people. Next time, I would try to interview a few more people so that I could get a variety of
facts and maybe some opinions on the subject as well.

Extending Knowledge
IB learner
The IB learner characteristics are risk taker, caring, Knowledgeable, Balanced, Open-
minded, Principled, Reflective, Thinkers, Inquirers and Communicators.
During this process I learned a few things about myself. I used to be a little shy and wouldn’t
want to go talk to people. But through this project I learned that it is necessary to
communicate. I had to communicate with my mentor, with the person in the Netherlands and
with the 4th grade teacher. Through all of these events I learned how to be a good
communicator and I learned that it is very effective if used. Being more communicative allowed
me to convey my message, about sustainability and globalization in the plastic waste industry,
to other people. My message was that plastic waste should be standardized so that it is easier
to recycle and it should be reused. Throughout this project I have also gained a lot of
knowledge which will help me now and maybe in later stages of life. I am knowledgeable
because I gained a lot of information over this project. I could say that it has made me an expert
in this field. Also I think that through having to write in my process journal after every little
thing that I did, I learned to be reflective and think about my actions right away. Which is
shown in my reflections in my journal entries. Also after I have done an activity or interview, I
have learned to be able to write a short summary of what I have learned and done. I think that
this could help me in the future. The first time I did this was after my interview that I had with
Marius. This is also shown in my process journal entries. All these skills that I have gained will
help me in the future to accomplish goals that I have in life.
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Bibliography:
Marius Smit: mariussmit1972@hotmail.com

"Contact Us." Common Plastics No 1 to No 7 - Description, Toxicity, Recyclability, Alternatives.

N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017."Plastic Waste."

Hopewell, Jefferson, Robert Dvorak, and Edward Kosior. "Plastics Recycling: Challenges and
Opportunities." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The Royal
Society, 27 July 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.

"MIT School of Engineering." Why Is It Cheaper to Make New Plastic Bottles than to Recycle Old
Ones? | MIT School of Engineering. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.

Plastic Waste - Environment - European Commission. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.