How to be a Citizen Scientist Against Plastic Waste at Home
Introduction
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has ben an increase in plastic waste being generated. This is due to the increase in online shopping transactions due to the fact that physical mobility is limited. These plastic wastes include multiple plastic wrappings which serve as protection for delivery parcels, food deliveries placed on single use plastics and plastic cutleries. In order to tackle this problem, we need to know how much plastic waste is being produced and what are the types of plastic waste being produced. This is where people like us can come in to help.
In order to address this problem, #EcoSquadGoals has created a workshop where participants will be taught a citizen science approach to determining the types of plastic waste generated in a household. The workshop teaches citizen scientist to identify how much plastic waste is being generated in their household and classify them into different types. This approach can be done at home or on field. The hope is that this will encourage local communities to be involved in projects that can help achieve a circular economy for plastic waste.
What is WACS?
One way participants can help in this endeavor as citizen scientist is to start a home-based WACS. WACS stands for Waste Analysis and Characterization Study. This approach aims to determine the amount of plastic waste a typical household produces in a day. WACS can also be used by businesses and local government in order to understand the type of waste they are producing and in turn reduce cost in disposal. The objective of WACS is to identify the amount of plastic waste being produced and identify it's type.
How to Do WACS?
In order to do WACS at home, you need to have the following:
1. Weighing Scale
2. Containers ( 9 pcs.)
3. Recording Instruments.
Step 1: Segregate plastic waste from your trash
Step 2: Group the segregated plastic wastes into 9 categories using the containers. The nine categories are:
Outer Wrapping
Bubble Wraps
Styrofoam
Food Plastics
Hard Plastics
Microwaveable Plastics
Food packs and Sachets
Water and Soda Bottles
Miscellaneous
Step 3: Weigh the plastic waste in each category and record the information. Aside form the weight, you also need to record the number of plastic waste in each category.
These are all the steps you need to do. if you are a science enthusiast and would like to help solve the plastic waste problem, then this project is a good way to help. If you want to learn more about #EcoSquadGoals and their platform, you can visit there social media links below:
You can also use their official hashtags on your social media to show support: #EcoSquadGoals #AUNEEC #itsworthit #AUN
All images are taken from #EcoSuqadGoals Facebook page and the online workshop entitled "AUN-EEC Workshop: Citizen Science for Addressing UN SDGs in SEA." help last April 18, 2022
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