Waste and Its Segregation

1. THE MISSION

The student has to play the role of a waste segregation warrior and the student has been assigned this important duty by the management body for their society. There is an important inspection in the society and the condition of the society with respect to waste management is very bad. You have been given a task to instruct or help the 15 houses in the society to segregate the garbage that is generated in the houses into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste and have to put them in different coloured dustbins. You have been given 30 minutes (~ 3 minutes of game time) to complete the task assigned.  If the student has correctly segregated the garbage into the coloured dustbins, he will be awarded a badge of honour by the government for its contribution. With this objective, the student has to segregate the garbage generated in 15 houses that lead to cleaner surroundings.

2. CONCEPTS

Understanding the definition of the term waste and garbage help us in a lot of ways as we can relate to the various sources and types of wastes around us and the means to segregate the types of waste. Waste is defined as unwanted and unusable materials and is regarded as a substance which is of no use. Waste that we see in our surroundings is also known as garbage. Garbage is mainly considered as a solid waste that includes wastes from our houses (domestic waste), wastes from schools, offices, etc. (municipal wastes) and wastes from industries and factories (industrial wastes). Wastes can be recycled with proper measures.

1. Sources of waste

Sources of waste can be broadly classified into four types: Industrial, Commercial, Domestic, and Agricultural.

• Industrial: These are the wastes created in factories and industries. Most industries dump their wastes in rivers and seas which cause a lot of pollution. Example: plastic, glass, etc.
• Commercial: Commercial wastes are produced in schools, colleges, shops, and offices. Example: plastic, paper, etc.
• Domestic: The different household wastes which are collected during household activities like cooking, cleaning, etc. are known as domestic wastes. Example: leaves, vegetable peels, excreta, etc.
• Agricultural: Various wastes produced in the agricultural field are known as agricultural wastes. Example: cattle waste, weed, husk, etc.

1. Types of waste

Commonly, waste is classified into two types: Biodegradable and Non-biodegradable waste. These two kinds of wastes are explained below:

• Biodegradable: These are the wastes that come from our kitchen and it includes food remains, garden waste, etc. Biodegradable waste is also known as moist waste. This can be composted to obtain manure. Biodegradable wastes decompose themselves over a period of time depending on the material.
• Non-biodegradable: These are the wastes which include old newspapers, broken glass pieces, plastics, etc. Non-biodegradable waste is known as dry waste. Dry wastes can be recycled and can be reused. Non-biodegradable wastes do not decompose by themselves and hence are major pollutants.

Dry waste includes wood and related products, metals and glass. Wet waste typically refers to organic waste which usually consists of kitchen waste – including vegetable and fruit peels and pieces, tea leaves, coffee grounds, eggshells, bones and entrails, fish scales, as well as cooked food (both veg and non-veg).  

It is very important to understand the types of waste, its origin and components as it helps to identify effective ways for segregation of garbage at our homes, helping our environment and authorities who are involved in waste segregation. But the question arises here is, why should waste/garbage be segregated? The answers to it are:

• So that it reduces waste that reaches landfills and reduces pollution to air and water
• So that different processes- composting, recycling, incineration can be applied to different kinds of waste.

1. Process of segregation of waste

The process for segregating the waste is not a complex task. As responsible citizens, we need to identify the rightful colour of bins to process the waste.

• The Green-coloured dustbins are meant for wet and biodegradable wastes. For eg: kitchen wastes including vegetables and fruits skins
• Blue dustbins are meant for disposal of plastic wrappers and non-biodegradable wastes
• Yellow dustbins are meant for papers and glass bottles

GAME DESIGN

1. 1. Problem statement

   The student has to play the role of a waste segregation warrior. The concept of the game is that the student has been given a task by the society to help the houses who doesn’t understand the concept of waste segregation. There are 15 houses in your locality who you have to help to ensure the segregation gets over within 30 minutes as there is an urgent inspection going to happen from the government side. You would have to get ready the equipment needed to segregate and visit the houses to help the house members or you have to segregate the garbage within the time frame. On completion of the task and as per the inspection performed, the student gets a badge of honour.

   1. Game design overview

   In the game, the player is a waste segregation warrior. Imagine, you are a waste segregation warrior who has been given a task for waste segregation of 15 houses in their locality. The player will have three dustbins (equipment) of the colours – green which should be used for wet and biodegradable wastes. Blue dustbins are meant for non-biodegradable wastes and yellow dustbins are meant for paper and glass bottles. Along with these, there are certain tools like pan, catcher etc. that can be availed by the player. Various forms of waste will be present in the homes in different areas. You task is to collection all the waste of the 15 houses which should be put in the correct dustbins. There are three mistake cards provided to the plater in case of any of the waste is not put properly in the dustbin in which it has to be put. Once the mistake cards get over, the game gets over. It is extremely important to collect all the waste into 3 dustbins within 3 minutes’ game time including the selection of equipment. Player who finished the game in the shortest time will be awarded a badge of honour along with that time being considered as the highest competitive score.

   1. How to design the game?
      1. Step I

   As the game begins, the player will select the 3 dustbins – green, blue and yellow coloured along with the other equipment if necessary and all the waste of the 15 houses will be present in the respective house. The student has to start identify the waste present in each house which has random count of waste materials. Your time will start as soon as the game begins.

   Hint: There are 15 houses in total spread in the locality. You have to move from one house to another and keep cleaning by segregation into the three dustbins, depending on whether they biodegradable or non-biodegradable. The count and materials of the garbage is random in each house but a maximum limit of 20 items should be there while coding.

   1. Step II

   It is important to note that you have 3 mistake cards given which acts as a life saver for you in case you make a mistake and wrongly put a wrong item into wrong bin. The segregation has to be done one by one only. You cannot select multiple items at once.

   Hint: The count of garbage items should be calculated properly for 15 houses as it should not go beyond the game play time of 3 minutes. Mistakes cards are in limited quantity and act as a game over mechanism in case a mistake is made.

   • Step III

   If you are able to segregate all the waste in the prescribed period of time, the task gets completed. The shortest time to complete the task will be the competitive high score for other players and if no mistake card is utilised then you will receive a badge of honour. If all 3 mistake cards get utilised, the game gets over and if you are not able to clean all the 15 houses in 3 minutes, the game gets over.

   Hint: If all the waste segregation is done in quick time, the game will also get over. It will not wait for 3 minutes’ game time. Hence, it is very important to segregate all the waste within the time limit keeping in mind that mistake cards are less used.

    

   2. ASSESSMENT

   Learning Objective Based Evaluation (0-1)	Q1		Q2		Q3	Q4
   Higher Order Thinking Skills	Problem Solving		Critical Thinking		Innovation	Creativity
   	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10

   Learning Objective Based Evaluation Total Score	/4
   Higher Order Thinking Skills Total Score	/8
   Total Score	/12

   Learning Objective Based Evaluation

   1 point Questions:

   Q1. Which of the following substances is bio- degradable waste?

   1. plastic
   2. thermocol
   3. steel
   4. vegetables and fruits skin

   Q2. What is the name of the waste generated from our homes?

   1. Agricultural
   2. Domestic
   3. Industrial
   4. All of the above

   Q3. Which of the following statements is true?

   1. Non-biodegradable wastes are beneficial to the environment
   2. Segregation of wastes into dry and wet waste helps in different processes- composting, recycling, incineration which can be applied to different kinds of waste
   3. There is no difference between industrial and commercial waste
   4. Wastes cannot be recycled

   Q4. What are the blue dustbins for?

   1. Disposal of non-biodegradable wastes
   2. Disposal of biodegradable wastes
   3. Disposal of only paper
   4. None of the above

   Evaluation of HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)

   Identification of the Problem Statement:

   Q5. What is the goal of the game that you have designed? (1 point)

   ____________________________________________________________

   Q6. Does the game designed solve the problem? Justify your answer. (1 point)

   ____________________________________________________________

   Solution of the Problem Statement:

   Q7. What are the different ways in which you feel segregation of waste is important? (1 point)

   ____________________________________________________________

   Q8. If any of your family members are not following the concept of segregation of wastes, what are the steps that you will take? (1 point)

   ____________________________________________________________

   Innovation in the Problem Statement:

   Q9. What are the innovative aspects of the solution for which the game is designed? (2 points)

   ____________________________________________________________

   Creativity in the Game Design:

   Q10. Describe and explain the unique design elements used in the game. (2 points)

   ____________________________________________________________

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