Garbage is a growing issue everywhere. Some countries are solving their garbage problems by shipping it to other places. Other countries are coming up with inventive ways to reduce how much they are creating.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Many people forget about garbage as soon as it's taken away, but it doesn't simply disappear. A lot of garbage doesn't even make it to the dump. Instead, it blows around in the wind, gets stuck up in trees, or sails off into waterways. One especially sneaky item that seems to end up all over the place is the simple plastic bag.

Around the world, people use about a million plastic bags every single minute. Hundreds of thousands of whales and sea turtles and other sea animals die every year from mistaking plastic bags for food. Plastic bags don't biodegrade; they photodegrade. This means they break down into tinier and tinier pieces of toxic bits that pollute the air, water, and soil. Many countries — including China, India, Taiwan, South Africa, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Norway, and Spain — have either gotten rid of plastic bags altogether or are making people pay money for them so they use them less. Individual cities such as San Francisco have also banned plastic bags. Is this an issue in your city?

What happens to the billions of bags that are still being used every year? Many are building up in our oceans and adding to huge masses of floating plastic-trash islands. The biggest one is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that is twice the size of Texas. You can show the kids a great cartoon video about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and a real-life video of kids who are making a difference at www.greengorilla.com.

What can you do? Ban the bag! Make your own reusable bags in class. Work with local grocery stores to provide reusable bags for people to buy. Have the students make signs warning others about the perils of the plastic bag. Help them list ways to reuse the plastic bags already lying around your house. What ways did the students come up with?

Fun with Furoshiki

You don't have to worry about what to do with garbage if you don't make any. Generations of people in Japan have used a fabric-folding technique known as furoshiki (f'-ROHSH-kee) to wrap gifts and carry groceries, among other things. Furoshiki eliminates waste-like plastic bags and wrapping paper. It is reusable and can be used for many different things. You can do an online search for furoshiki videos and diagrams for folding to give your students an idea of the process. Of course, the real fun is in trying yourself. Start your search for ideas at www.furoshiki.com/techniques.php.

Each child needs a large bandana or scarf (thrift stores and Grandma's closet are great places to look). You can have them make a craft that they then wrap in the fabric or have them make their own bag. You can also have them practice wrapping different shapes like books or cans. See how creative they can get with folding and knotting.