Part 4 "Sustainability"

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Part 4 - Sustainability

The orange colour shows a grammar subject from the Basics. You can click the Basics tab on the left to find the explanation.

The blue colour shows words that might be new or difficult. You can use an online dictionary to find the meaning. You can add these to your personal word list.

Questions in English will be answered in English. Questions in Dutch can be answered in English and Dutch.

During the last parts you’ve learnt about things good and bad for the environment. 

In the end, we want you to learn about this because we want to make you live more sustainable or at least be aware of these problems. But what is sustainability exactly? Let’s find out.

Task 1 – Sustainability explained (watching) Basis

Please answer the questions on the next slides

1. Wat realiseerde Carl Von Carlowitz?

2. Wat zijn de drie pilaren van duurzaamheid?

3. Geef drie doelen van duurzaam handelen bij pilaar 1.

4. Leg in je eigen woorden uit wat het duurzaamheidsdoel is bij pilaar 2.

5. Leg in je eigen woorden uit wat het duurzaamheidsdoel is bij pilaar 3.

6. Waarom moet je niet altijd alles geloven wat bedrijven zeggen?

B. Reflection

1. What are ways you have been living sustainable already?

2. What are things you can start doing?

Another way to live more sustainable is to upcycle old products or material that would otherwise have been thrown away. Read about upcycling below.

Task 2 – Fashion industry (Reading) Basis

In 2018, the fashion industry was responsible for 4% of the world’s total waste. That’s a whopping 92 million tons of waste, a statistic that puts the industry neck and neck with sectors like cement production, responsible for 5% of the world’s total waste production, and livestock, which accounts for 5.4%.

Some of the world’s biggest names in fashion have been caught in controversy for adding in major ways to this waste production: British luxury giant Burberry burned $36.5 million worth of unsold clothing in 2017. Nike was caught slashing and trashing unsold shoes, making them unwearable in case people managed to find the discarded goods. Fast fashion retailer H&M was accused of annually sending 12 tons of unused, unsold clothing up in flames.

After facing major backlash around the world, fashion companies have stepped up to the plate and promised to do better. One way they are attempting to reduce waste and increase sustainability is by using the power of upcycling.

Task 2 – Fashion industry (Reading) Basis

What Is Upcycling?

Upcycling is the reuse and repurposing of discarded materials to create products of higher value than the originals. For example: In 2019, Nike teamed up with MINIWIZ to design and build a groundbreaking Nike store constructed from over 250 pairs of used sneakers. The project recycled 12,000 plastic bottles into the lounge’s Air Brick wall and transformed the soles and insoles of discarded shoes into carpets and various other furnishings.

What About Recycling?

At this point, you might ask: Why bother with upcycling? Why not just recycle old clothing? And what on earth is the difference between recycling and upcycling anyway?

Recycling is a process in which thrown away goods are broken down into their raw materials for the purpose of producing new goods. For example, plastic water bottles can be broken down into new plastic, which can then be used to manufacture T-shirts, carpeting, or more bottles.

Task 2 – Fashion industry (Reading) Basis

Upcycling is all about taking apart a discarded good and repurposing its parts to craft new products. The process preserves many characteristics of the original materials.

But the question remains: Why bother upcycling, say, a bunch of unsold scarves and handkerchiefs into a new line of T-shirts?

The statistics around recycled clothing are not good. According to Greenpeace, a whopping 73% of recycled and donated clothes are shipped off to the landfill every year. Given the high costs of recycling clothes, clothing manufacturers prefer to keep things cheap and work with new fibers. Recycling also takes a major toll on fabrics, which means that the majority of fabrics can only be recycled one time before being dumped or burned.

Let’s hope that fashion industry starts to take its waste more seriously and that upcycling will become a regular thing, this way we can shop a bit more environmentally friendly.

A. Questions (Basis)
If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.


1. For how much waste was the fashion industry responsible in 2018?

A. Questions (Basis)
If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.


2. Why were Burberry, Nike and H&M criticised?

A. Questions (Basis)
If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.


3. Leg in je eigen woorden uit wat ‘upcycling’ is.

A. Questions (Basis)
If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.


4. What is so groundbreaking about the new Nike store? Explain in your own words.

A. Questions (Basis)
If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.


5. Wat is het verschil tussen recyclen en upcyclen?

A. Questions (Basis)
If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.


6. Waarom is het beter om kleding te upcyclen dan te recyclen?

Reflection (Uitbreiding)

1. If you buy new clothes (or your parents for you), which clothing brands or stores do you usually buy from?

Reflection (Uitbreiding)

2. Search on Google and write down the names of 5 clothing brands that are unsustainable.

Reflection (Uitbreiding)

3. Are the stores/brands you usually buy from on this list? If yes, how many?

Reflection (Uitbreiding)

4. Think of 2 ways you can upcycle some of your old clothes you never wear.

Task 3 – Repurposing chopsticks (watching) Basis

Watch the Video, if the question is in English, you answer in English. 

If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch.

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (A. Question)

1. How many chopsticks get thrown away in Vancouver, Canada daily?

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (A. Question)

2. What do they make with the discarded chopsticks?

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (A. Question)

3. Omschrijf de stappen die nodig zijn om een tegeltje te maken.

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (A. Question)

4. What can they create with a finished tile?

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (A. Question)

5. What are Sheila Morovati and activists in China trying to achieve?

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (B. Reflection)

1. Do you use any single-use products? How often? (Single-use products are products you can only use once.)

If the question is in English, you answer in English. If the answer is Dutch, you answer in Dutch. (B. Reflection)

2. Look up online if there is a better alternative available and write it down.