- A
Computer Model For A Recycling Center
- Adapted from A-way With
Waste: A Waste Management Curriculum for Schools, 2nd ed., by
State of Washington, Dept of Ecology
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Back to Trash Goes to School
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- GRADE LEVELS:
9-12
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- SUBJECT AREAS:
computer science, math
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- CONCEPT:
A computer can save a business time and money.
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- OBJECTIVE:
Students will develop a working model computer program of a
recycling center which can be used to make decisions about a
school recycling program.
- MATERIALS:
*computer and manual
*information from school recycling coordinator
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- KEYWORDS:
material management
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- BACKGROUND:
A recycling center has three suboperations for which computer
programs should be developed. These suboperations are:
- 1. material management at the recycling
site,
2. work schedules during the hours of operation at the recycling
site, and
3. the business finances of running the recycling center.
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- Material management - This aspect involves:
- a. the quantity of materials being
generated,
b. the size of the containers and the volume/mass they will hold
at the school's recycling site, and
c. the scheduling of pickup and transportation of materials to
the local private recycler.
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- Work schedules
- This aspect could involve:
- a. scheduling individuals to perform
the following tasks - breaking glass, cleanup, separating materials,
tieing and stacking newspapers (depending on requirements of
local markets), closing up the school center, etc.
b. providing a schedule for pickup of recyclables,
c. providing the appropriate number of workers for peak periods.
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- Business finances - This aspect involves:
- a. monitoring the income, expenses,
and earnings of the program,
b. distributing the earnings to the various organizations involved
in running the school center.
NOTE: Most programs will not make a profit if time and
set-up costs are considered, but there are avoided costs such
as reduced tipping fees at the landfill or incinerator because
of lowered volumes of trash.
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- PROCEDURE:
- 1. Raw data involving the three aspects
mentioned above must be obtained from the individual operating
the school center. Once the data are obtained, the programs should
be developed and continually modified to accurately reflect the
operation of the recycling center.
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- 2. Daily or weekly entries should be
made in the program to keep track of the center's operations.
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- 3. Periodic printouts of the three
aspects of the center should be made available to the individuals
in charge of running the recycling center. The information provided
will enable them to make sound decisions concerning the center's
operations.
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- FOLLOW-UP:
- List three operations involved in a
school recycling center which might be efficiently handled by
a computer program.
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- Who could develop and process a computer
program for a recycling center in your school?
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- Once a computer program for a recycling
center has been established, estimate the savings in time to
operate the center.
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- How might a computer program save money
for a recycling center?
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