The Circular Economy: A New Way to Design, Make, and Use Things

• This video explains our consumer-based economic system as "take, make, and waste" and compares it with a circular economy, which focuses on reuse and recycling. 
• This resource will get students thinking about their consumption habits and what steps must be taken to create a circular economy. 

Positives

• This video is a lovely introduction to the concept of a circular economy.
• Simple and meaningful animation make tricky economic concepts easy for students to understand. 

Additional Prerequisites

• It may help younger students to locate the landfills or waste incinerators on a map in their local area to help them understand where their waste goes.
• Teachers could research local e-waste collection centers or donation centers to help students take action right away and help them inform their friends and family members what to do with their devices when they don't want them anymore.
  

Differentiation

• This resource would work well in any class that is discussing the importance of recycling or reusing, nature's use of waste, economic systems, or consumerism. 
• Taking cues from the examples in the video, have students brainstorm ideas for items they no longer need or often throw away and what they can do with them to give them a second life. 
• As an extension for action-minded students, create a classroom or school-wide initiative for keeping items out of the trash. Students could create a freecycle system, a lunchroom compost bin, a donation program, or recycling campaign.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.