Bag it—Paper or Plastic? Activity Tips

This activity appears in the section Help the Environment.

The purpose of this activity is to help students understand the many ways that energy is involved in manufacturing grocery bags, and to motivate them to reuse and recycle these bags. Encourage students to follow the instructions and write down all the ways they think energy might be used to make each type of bag before they turn the page to see the answers.

Extension
This activity could be the springboard for a class discussion of how energy is used in other types of manufacturing, or (for older students) for research projects on energy use in various industries.