2020 Virtual Program
This spring marks the 5th anniversary of the Plastic Bag Grab Challenge, and although it will be delivered differently this year, we hope your classroom will consider participating. Please find below an update on how the Plastic Bag Grab Challenge will be work this year including new resources for teachers and students to participate virtually.
What's New?
1.Interactive Plastics Activities
Looking for activities for your virtual classroom? Here's some ideas!
- Organize a poster contest on plastics and the 3Rs.
- Our newest resource, the Plastic Action Centre features Canadian plastics experts. Have your students come up with questions on plastics and submit them to our panel of experts:
- Chelsea Rochman, Assistant Professor in Ecology at the University of Toronto
- Rhiannon Moore, Researcher at the Ocean Wise Plastics Lab
- Calvin Lakhan, Ph.D, Co-Investigator of the “Waste Wiki” project at York University
- Shannon Lavalley, Program Manager at Recycling Council of Ontario
- DIY projects for upcycling plastic bags. Check out the Waste Reduction Week in Canada Pinterest page for activity links that we’ve curated.
- Plastic Home Scavenger Hunt: can you spot the plastic items and alternatives around your house?
- What’s in your Waste at Home? Conduct an at Home Waste Audit!
- Plastic Bag Grab Student Quiz
- Plastic Bag Grab Student Word Search
- Plastic Bag Grab Crossword
- Make a Commitment to Change through 10,000 Changes
- Challenge your classroom, school, or community to avoid single-use plastics for a whole week while at home, then write a blog on their experience.
2. Educational Resources
- Lifecycle of a Plastic Bag Video and other plastic education videos
- Plastic by the Numbers
- How Plastics Breakdown into Microplastics
- Canada Plastic Facts
- How Long Does Plastic Last?
- 10,000 Changes learning modules
- Understanding Bioplastics (coming soon!)
- Plastic Lifecycle (coming soon!)
- Common Plastic Misconceptions (coming soon!)
3. Social media / Community Engagement
We also encourage students to share their activities on social media using #PlasticBagGrab. We understand that participating at home will be different than at school with fellow teachers and students but we know the creativity of our Plastic Bag Grab Challenge participants have shown in the past, and we look forward to seeing what students can come up with while learning from home.
- Encourage students and their families to share their plastic reduction efforts at home, show off their plastic DIY/upcycle projects, and share what they’ve learned through the online resources.
- Participated in Plastic Bag Grab Challenge in previous years? Share the impact of your efforts and how your school made a difference.
- Download our sample social media posts and images to continue raising awareness.
- Downloadable social media cards
Stay Connected!
Please sign-up for our newsletter to receive updates on the plastic bag collection and new resources for the 2020-2021 program.