What If Plastic Didn't Exist?

Cosmo gets a package delivered with a replacement part. The box is huge. He opens the box and pulls out bubble wrap, packing peanuts, plastic air-filled cushions, and then finds the part in a plastic bag in a plastic clam shell which he opens to find another plastic bag and finally his tiny new screw. He majestically inserts his new screw and is left with a huge pile of garbage. What is plastic? What is it made from? How is it made?

Topic: Materials, Objects, and Everyday Structures

Cosmoriculum:

Identify the kinds of waste produced in the classroom, and plan and carry out a classroom course of action for minimizing waste, explaining why each action is important
Describe objects as things that are made of one or more materials
Describe materials as the substances from which something is made
Identify the materials that make up objects and structures
Describe the properties of materials that enable the objects and structures made from them to perform their intended function
Identify the sources in nature of some common materials that are used in making structures