Our 5,000 square foot facility is open year round. Open daily for recycling drop off. Over 40 different items collected for recycling. Our Warehouse offers used building materials. More recycling drop off locations in outlying areas throughout Summit County. Closed on major holidays.

Lesson Plans

Lesson plans for Environmental Education

View lessons by grade level: 

Kindergarten 

• Think Earth:  Respecting Mother Earth

• Buddy's Bones Lesson Plan: What happens to garbage when we bury it? Grades K-2.

• Buddy's Bones Storybook (pdf 9 MB)
  

First Grade

• Think Earth:  Recycling and Conservation, Think Earth First!

• Recycling Game: Practice ABCs while learning what is recyclable and what is garbage.

• Recycling Relay Race: A sorting game to identify recyclable materials.

• Think Earth: A collection of activities designed to get kids thinking about Earth and why we need to take care of it.

Second Grade

Recycle Utah Lesson Plan

• Think Earth:  Recycling and Conservation, Our Landfill is Full!
• The Landfill's Full: What happens when recycling goes to the landfill? 

Other Online Lessons

• Putting Wind to Work: A collection of lessons on wind power. Grades 2-5.

Third Grade

Recycle Utah Lesson Plan

• Think Earth:  Recycling and Conservation, Composting is Fun!

• Recycling Card Games: Games to identify recyclables, compostables, hazardous materials, and thrift store items. Grades 3-5.

• Go Fish & Concentration: Materials for card games mentioned above, plus Go Fish rules. Grades 3-5.

Other Online Lessons

• Solar Matters: Learn about the sun's relationship to Earth. From the Florida Solar Energy Center. Grades 3-5.

• Ice Cube Race: Melt ice cubes and learn, a lesson plan from the state of Florida. Grades 3-5.

Fourth Grade

Recycle Utah Lesson Plans

• Think Earth:  Water and Hazardous Waste Disposal

• Health Snacks; Healthy Packaging: Learn how consumer marketing influences product packaging and how to buy snacks and packaging wisely.

• Clean Water: Why don't we throw hazardous waste in the landfill?

• Good Plants/ Bad Plants: Students learn why non-native plants should be controlled in our desert environment.

Other Online Lessons

• Renewable Energy and Sustainability: Explore other ways of generating electricity for a healthier planet, from The Infinite Power of Texas. Grades 4-5

Fifth Grade

Recycle Utah Lesson Plans

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Carbon Footprinting
• Greenhouse Gas Grab Bag: Learn what greenhouse gasses are and how to reduce your impact on the climate.

Other Online Lessons

• Global Warming Wheel Card: from the EPA. 

• Changes in the Global Climate: from Evergreen in Canada.

Sixth Grade

• Composting: Students examine real compost and its components using scientific methods.

Middle School

• Recycling in the News: Why is sorting recyclables so crucial to our environment & our economy? Focuses on paper recycling and contamination.

• The Power of Wind: (PPT)

• The Power of Wind: (Lesson Plan) How does a wind turbine work?

High School

Recycle Utah Lesson Plans

• How Do We Use Energy?: Important math lessons in conservation

• Truth or Consequences: An environmental trivia game. Good for middle school or high school.

Other Online Lessons

• Lessons on Climate Change: An intensive 10-day lesson from the Lesson Plans Page

• Soda Bottle Bioreactor: Learn about composting in a small, controlled environment. Build your own with these instructions from Cornell University.

• Urban Heat Island Effect: An evaluation of human impact on the environment. From Evergreen in Canada.

• Sustainable Development: A National Geographic lesson on sustainable development in Africa.

Spanish

• Recycling in Spanish: Students learn about recycling in Spanish. Good for intermediate Spanish speakers or for teaching younger native Spanish speakers.

• Spanish Recycling Game: Vocabulary cards/sorting game in Spanish. Can accompany lesson above.