ADDRESSING THE OBJECTIVES FOR A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: EXPLAINING SCIENCE BEYOND RESIDUES SEPARATION AND RECYCLING

With the aim of promoting scientific vocations among young people from the Balearic Islands (Spain), the “Ciència per a tothom” project was born in 2014 as an Annual Science and Technology Fair, where mainly first-year students from the different Degree studies at the Faculty of Science and the Polytechnic School, are responsible for the explanation of scientific experiments to Primary and Secondary School children.

Within this context, we developed 5 activities to show the importance of recycling and to explain the science behind the separation and recycling processes of several kinds of residues. In sequential order, the first activity was about the separation of residues, where different examples were introduced: the different kinds of house-waste where manual separation is needed, the separation of plastics thanks to its physical and chemical properties, and the recycling of electronic waste. A second activity dealt with the transformation of organic-waste into compost and its re-entry on the food-chain as a fertilizer. In this activity different kinds of bio-fermentation processes were carried out. A third activity showed the saponification chemical reaction in order to transform used kitchen oil into soap or bio-diesel. The forth activity was about the foundry of aluminium cans to produce new aluminium bars and, from it, new cans; with this activity, the importance of separation of ferric materials was shown. The last activity presented the recycling of different kinds of plastic by extrusion; the structure of plastics, their properties and the perfect way of recycling every kind of plastic was explained.

The proposed 5 activities contributed to the learning of the students at two levels. At one hand, the Science Fair attenders learned from this experience the science behind recycling and it helped to promote a greener way of life. On the other hand, the university students who explained the different activities were more engaged with the topics than in a traditional lesson and got a deep knowledge about the topics they explained and so, this activity also worked to teach, for instance, polymers chemistry or fermentation processes.