This section of The Recycle Challenge has three parts. Your teacher may require you to complete all, or fewer parts depending on the time available in your class. Before you begin any part of this process make sure you read and understand the criteria that will be used to evaluate your work.

Part 1 - Deciding on the kinds of graphs to create.

1. Examine the data you've collected so far. Consider the kinds of things the data can tell you about your recycling efforts:

• How much paper (or other recyclables) are you collecting?
• How is a particular class or area doing on a weekly basis?
• How much recycling is each grade level doing?
• Do recycling efforts vary by week or month? If so, why?

2. Write down a list of questions that you might ask of the data you collect with your recycling efforts.
3. Choose two or three of the questions and sketch a graph or graphs that would help you answer the questions. Be sure to be clear on the type of graph that you think might be best to use and include labels that help to explain the graph. Don't worry about being accurate with numbers at this time. For example, if you think a pie chart of percentages might be helpful, just sketch what you think the pie chart might look like.
4. Share your ideas for graphs and discuss them.
5. Visit the site below to see examples of tables and graphs that Black Mountain Elementary School created from the data they collected. How many of these graphs are like yours? Would these graphs help to answer your questions?

• Black Mountain Elementary School Data and Graphs (created with Excel)

6. Considering the tools you have available to you (computer, graphing program, etc.) decide on a set of graphs you would like to create. Note: If you don't know how to use spreadsheet and graphing programs, this is a perfect time to learn a new skill on the computer.
7. Use the data you have collected so far and create the graphs. Discuss and modify as needed.
8. Create a plan to create these graphs on a regular basis so that you can share them with your school community.

Part 2 - Conducting waste audits.

1. A waste audit is a way to look at the garbage generated by a class or area at your school to create a graph of its composition. Waste audits are especially helpful when monitoring how well a class or area is recycling. For example, if you are recycling paper at your school, a waste audit of classrooms that separates recyclable paper from other contents of the garbage would let you create a graph of the percent paper versus other materials in the garbage. A classroom that was doing a perfect job recycling would not have any recyclable paper in its garbage. A classroom that had a significant percent of recyclable paper in their garbage might need a reminder to recycle.
2. Use the following resource to help you design a waste audit that will let you monitor the effectiveness of your recycling efforts:

• The Oregon Green School Tools - Contains lots of useful information on recycling in general, and a great waste audit form with instructions.

3. Explore two of the waste audits conducted by Black Mountain Elementary School Students to see their results and the reports and how they used the results to improve recycling:

• Principal's Waste Audit
• Original Lunch Room Waste Audit

4. Conduct waste audits based on the plan you developed in step 3. Be sure to provide feedback to help improve recycling efforts if the audit points toward a need to improve–even if it is your principal!

Part 3 - Modifying the plan.

1. The graphs you create from the data you collect may point out the need to modify your original recycling plan. Be prepared to discuss any modifications you think might be important, but be sure you can support proposed modifications with data and graphs.
2. If your plan is modified, be sure to communicate the changes.