5 Gyres: Trash Academy video series and TrashBlitz app
Two seasons of short YouTube episodes (English and Spanish) and a community-science litter-logging app.
Interactive tool
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Where does my plastic go? An explainer for ages 8–11
One bottle, four endings, and the answer to ‘if we recycle it, why is it still a problem?’, with six sourced facts.
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Where does my plastic go? A read-aloud story for ages 5–7
Bob the Bottle’s four journeys (bin, ground, recycling, refill) in a reading-age-7 story with four checked facts.
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30-day Swap Challenge: day-by-day tracker
One swap a week for four weeks plus a wild-card, with daily ticks, weekly ‘did it stick?’ checks and grams avoided at the end.
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Family plastic footprint calculator: how it works and the weights we use
The full method, per-item weights and country benchmarks behind our calculator, so families and classes can check every number.
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Classroom plastic audit (ages 8–18, with a picture tally for 5–7)
A one-week, 12-category count of a class’s single-use plastic with a published weights table, the sums, and a three-swap action plan.
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Our World in Data: Plastic Pollution topic page and data explorer
Free, citable charts (CC BY 4.0) on plastic production, waste, recycling and ocean inputs, ideal for 12–18 data lessons.
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Algalita Wayfinder Society: Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) MS-ESS3-3 ‘Plastic Ocean’ lesson and student hub
Research-grounded middle and high school lessons, toolkits and a youth summit from the institute behind the original gyre research.
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Clean Up Australia: Education Hub and Schools Clean Up Day
Educator’s guide, Australian Curriculum lessons, a school planning toolkit and the annual Schools Clean Up Day for F–Year 10.
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TeachEngineering: Great Pacific Garbage Patch mapping lesson
A grade 6–8 lesson using mapping and ocean-current data to understand how plastic gathers in gyres (huge, slowly circling ocean currents).