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Learning objectives |
Activities
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To outline the main ways in which household waste is treated and disposed of and to investigate what happens to waste from the pupils' homes and the school. Understanding of the differences between landfill, incineration and recycling Understand the environmental impacts of waste management Understanding for individual responsibility for waste |
Activity 1- investigation of what happens to waste locally Activity 2 - discussion about introducing recycling collections at school Activity 3 - generating a map of local recycling and waste management facilities Extension activity - discussions of main environmental impacts of waste disposal |
Activities 1, 2 and 3 geography Activity 1 and 2 - PSHE Activity 2 - English Extension Activity - English
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Waste information sheet 2, writing paper, map of local area or allow children to draw their own maps Telephone directory (e.g. Yellow Pages) and local council information on recycling facilities. For contact details please see below |
The majority of household waste continues to be sent to landfill for disposal, but in some areas local authorities or other agencies are providing recycling collections on a door to door or kerbside collection basis. Most areas at least have some local recycling banks often at supermarket car parks to which householders can deliver materials for recycling. In some urban areas there is a significant shortage of local landfill sites and in some cases the waste is incinerated. These incinerators recover the heat from burning waste which is used to generate electricity or district heating. All of the options for waste disposal and recycling have some negative impacts on the environment whether this be the pollution of water by leachate, the contribution to global warming of landfill gas or incinerator emissions or the transport implications of moving waste around the country. There is a concern that energy from waste will dominate over the alternatives and that this might reduce our capacity to recycle, reuse and reduce waste production. Whatever option or combination of options are used, waste is a problem because it represents a waste of resources used in the extraction, manufacture and transport of the materials to the point of sale and because of the negative environmental impacts of waste treatment. These issues are explored further in the 3Rs activities in this pack.
Children rarely have an opportunity to visit waste management facilities so the following pictures are intended to illustrate the different options.
Most local authorities provide information for householders on what materials can be recycled and the type of recycling collections provided. Contact details for the local council can be found in the telephone directory or by contacting the Waste Watch Wasteline on 0870 243 0136.
Find out how the waste from your home and school is disposed of. Look at the pictures of the landfill site and incinerator. Discuss with your group what you think the main problems for the environment are of dealing with waste in these ways. Make a list of your concerns.
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