Grade by Grade
C. Managing Canada's Resources and Industries · Managing Canada's Resources and Industries

Follow the Product: Everyday Items from Extraction to Disposal

C2.5 A1.2 A1.6About 75 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can trace the resources extracted for an everyday product and the stages of its production, distribution, consumption and disposal.
  • I can analyze sustainability issues at each stage of a product's life cycle.
  • I can suggest and evaluate ways to make products more sustainable, and communicate my findings with sources.

Words to know

life cycle
All the stages of a product's life: extraction of raw materials, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.
life cycle assessment
A study that measures the environmental impacts of a product at every stage of its life.
embodied energy
All the energy used to make and deliver a product, before you use it.
extended producer responsibility (EPR)
A policy making producers responsible for collecting and recycling their products and packaging after use.
e-waste
Discarded electrical and electronic products, such as phones, computers and chargers.
fast fashion
Cheap, trendy clothing made quickly in large amounts and often thrown out after a short time.
planned obsolescence
Designing products to wear out or become outdated quickly so people buy new ones.
right to repair
The idea that people should be able to get parts, tools and information to fix the products they own.

Hook: the hidden journey

Pick up your phone, your T-shirt, or a slice of toast. Each one has travelled farther than you might expect. Minerals were dug from the ground on several continents, cotton was grown in fields thousands of kilometres away, wheat ripened on the Prairies. Factories, trucks, ships and stores all played a part. And one day, each item will be thrown away, recycled, composted or passed on.

In this lesson you will follow products through their life cycles and find the sustainability issues hidden at each stage.

The five stages

  1. Extraction: taking raw materials from nature (mining, drilling, farming, forestry).
  2. Production: processing and manufacturing them into a product.
  3. Distribution: packaging, shipping and selling.
  4. Consumption: using the product (and repairing it).
  5. Disposal: what happens at the end: landfill, incineration, recycling, composting, reuse or donation.

Each stage uses energy and water and can create waste, pollution and greenhouse gases. Each stage also involves people: miners, farmers, factory workers, truck drivers and waste workers. Their working conditions are part of sustainability too. A life cycle assessment measures the impacts at every stage.

The life cycle of a product1. Extractionraw materials2. Productionfactories3. Distributionship, truck, store4. Consumptionuse, repair5. Disposallandfill or ...recycling sends materials back to productionreuse and repairEach stage uses energy and water and can create waste and emissions.
The life cycle is a chain from extraction to disposal. Reuse, repair and recycling turn the chain into loops, which is the circular economy idea from earlier in this unit.

Case 1: a smartphone

  • Extraction: a phone contains many mined materials: copper, aluminum, small amounts of gold and tin, and battery materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite; the glass comes from silica sand; plastics come from oil or natural gas. Canada mines some of these (for example nickel, copper and cobalt as a by-product, and gold), but much comes from other countries, where mining conditions and environmental rules vary. Concerns include child labour and unsafe conditions in some cobalt mining, and water use in lithium extraction.
  • Production: parts are made in many countries and assembled in large factories, using a lot of energy.
  • Distribution: phones are shipped and flown around the world; packaging adds waste.
  • Consumption: people often replace phones after a few years. Software updates ending, batteries that are hard to replace, and marketing all encourage replacement (planned obsolescence).
  • Disposal: old phones become e-waste. If thrown in the garbage, valuable metals are lost and batteries can cause fires. Ontario requires producers to provide collection and recycling for electronics and batteries (extended producer responsibility).

Case 2: a cotton T-shirt

  • Extraction: cotton is not grown in Canada; it is grown in warmer countries, often with irrigation and pesticides. Polyester is made from oil.
  • Production: spinning, weaving, dyeing (which can pollute rivers if not controlled) and sewing, often by low-paid workers in other countries.
  • Distribution: shipped by container ship, then trucked to stores or homes.
  • Consumption: washing and drying use energy and water; synthetic fabrics shed microfibres.
  • Disposal: fast fashion produces huge amounts of textile waste; donating, swapping, mending and textile recycling extend clothing life.

Case 3: a loaf of bread (a Canadian chain)

  • Extraction: wheat grown on the Prairies (Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba) using soil, water, fertilizer (including potash, mined in Saskatchewan) and fuel.
  • Production: milled into flour, baked in a bakery near the market (perishable!).
  • Distribution: trucked to stores; plastic bags and twist ties.
  • Consumption: some bread is wasted at home when it goes stale.
  • Disposal: food scraps can go into a green bin or compost instead of landfill, where rotting food produces methane, a greenhouse gas.
What is inside a smartphone? (simplified)batterycircuit boardglass screen: silica sandlithium, cobalt, nickel,graphitecopper wires and traces;tiny amounts of gold, tinframe: aluminum or steelcase and buttons: plastic(from oil or natural gas)
A smartphone packs many mined and processed resources into a small space. Each label traces back to a mine, a well or a quarry somewhere in the world.
Worked example

Modelled example: analyze issues and solutions at each stage

Choose the smartphone. For each stage, name one sustainability issue and one possible solution, and say who could act.

  1. Extraction: issue: unsafe conditions in some cobalt mines. Solution: companies trace and audit their mineral supply chains; buyers support responsibly sourced minerals; governments set due-diligence laws. Who: companies, governments.
  2. Production: issue: high energy use in factories. Solution: renewable-powered factories. Who: manufacturers.
  3. Distribution: issue: excess packaging. Solution: smaller, plastic-free packaging. Who: companies, with consumer pressure.
  4. Consumption: issue: short product life. Solution: replaceable batteries, longer software support, right-to-repair rules. Who: governments, companies, consumers.
  5. Disposal: issue: phones in the garbage. Solution: take-back programs and e-waste drop-offs under EPR. Who: producers, municipalities, individuals.

Every stage has a sustainability issue and a possible action, and responsibility is shared among companies, governments and consumers.

Hands-on activity

Product life cycle investigation

You need: one everyday product from your home (for example a juice box, a hoodie, a pencil, a bag of potato chips, a pair of headphones), internet access with a grown-up, and paper or a computer.

  1. List the main materials in your product (check the label and the company website).
  2. Research where each material is likely extracted, where the product is made, and how it reaches Canada. Use at least three sources, including at least one government or independent source. Record each source (organization, title, date, link).
  3. Draw a life cycle flow chart with all five stages, labelled with places.
  4. Mark one sustainability issue at each stage.
  5. Suggest the single best change, and who would need to act.
  6. Share your flow chart with your family and include a source list at the bottom.
Just for fun

A smartphone contains a tiny amount of gold. So technically, your phone is jewellery that also sends texts. (Please do not wear it as a necklace.)

Your turn

1

Name the five stages of a product's life cycle.

2

List four mined materials found in a smartphone.

3

Identify one sustainability issue in the extraction stage of a cotton T-shirt.

4

Why should old phones not go in the household garbage?

5

Explain extended producer responsibility in your own words.

6

Which stages of a loaf of bread's life cycle happen in Canada?

7

Why is food in a landfill a problem?

More practice: warm-up

1

What is e-waste?

2

What is fast fashion?

3

Which stage includes shipping and selling?

4

What does 'right to repair' mean?

5

Is polyester made from a renewable or non-renewable resource?

More practice: on your own

1

Explain planned obsolescence with an example.

2

Why is the bread life cycle shorter in distance than the T-shirt's?

3

Give two ways a consumer can reduce the impacts of clothing.

4

How does a life cycle assessment help companies?

5

Explain why working conditions are part of a product's sustainability.

Challenge

1

Compare the sustainability issues of a phone and a loaf of bread. Which life cycle stage matters most for each, and why?

2

Evaluate this claim: Recycling solves the problem of e-waste.

3

Choose an everyday product and propose a policy that a government could introduce to improve its sustainability. Explain who would support and oppose it.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What are the five stages of a product's life cycle, in order?

2.

Which material in a smartphone battery comes from mining?

3.

What is extended producer responsibility (EPR)?

4.

Why is reusing or repairing a phone usually better for sustainability than recycling it?

5.

Which stage of a loaf of bread's life cycle happens mainly on the Prairies?

6.

Fast fashion is linked to which sustainability problem?

For parents and teachers

This lesson connects the whole unit to things your teen uses every day. The investigation is a chance to practise research and citation: help your teen choose reliable sources and write down the organization, title, date and link for each. Common difficulties: forgetting the distribution and disposal stages; thinking recycling is always the best option (reduce, reuse and repair come first); leaving out people (workers) when thinking about sustainability. Check your municipality's website together to see what goes in the recycling, green bin and e-waste programs where you live.