Title – What is waste?

Time Required – 60 minutes (This lesson has many

opportunities for extended discussion. Therefore a double
Lesson 1 lesson would be equally suitable.)

Level – 7 to 11 years Curriculum Areas – Citizenship / Science / Geography

Learning Objectives:
• To understand what is meant by the term ‘waste’
• To consider what happens to our waste once it has been thrown away
• To gain and demonstrate an understanding of the terms ‘Reduce’, ‘Reuse’, ‘Recycle’ and ‘Compost’

Skills:
• Organise and categorise
• Drawing
• Reading and writing

Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to:
• Show a basic understanding of the implication of sending waste to landfill sites
• Understand and demonstrate the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle)
• Demonstrate their understanding of why it is important to reduce waste

Prior Knowledge:
Students should already have:
• A basic knowledge of different material types - glass/metal/plastic/paper etc.
• Basic reading and writing skills

Timing Introductory Activity Key Questions

10 mins • What is waste? Ask students to draw an image of food What is waste?
related waste on their whiteboards. Elicit a definition of waste
e.g. ‘The things we throw away or don’t need anymore.’ Is waste for one person the same as
waste for another person?
• Ask the class if they know what happens to this waste. Elicit
that most of it goes to landfill sites and show students the Why is it important to try to reduce
two landfill pictures (Resource Sheet R.1a). the amount of waste we produce?

• Talk about some of the implications of sending too much

rubbish to landfill sites. (See What is Landfill and Problems
with Landfill Sites for useful waste facts.)

Lesson Plan 1: Page 1

15 mins Main Activity Which items could be
• Empty the pre-prepared bag of waste out on the table. Ask the class if all reused?
of the items are in fact rubbish. Should they all go to landfills or can they
think of other things that can be done with them. Which items could be
recycled?
• Display four labels ‘reuse’, ‘recycle’, ‘compost’ and ‘rubbish’ (Resource
Sheet R.1b). Hold up each item and ask which label it should go under. Which items could be
Continue until all items are sorted. composted?

• Look at the waste in the ‘rubbish’ group and ask what we could do to Which items could be both
reduce this. Make sure that you include some plastic carrier bags and some reused and recycled?
fruit and vegetable packaging.
Which do you think has
• Discuss items that could be both reused and recycled. the most positive impact:
reducing our waste or
recycling it? Why?
Extension/ Differentiation
(See Glass Facts, Metal Facts, Plastic Facts, Paper Facts for supporting infor-
mation.)

• Explain briefly that many of the items have been manufactured from raw
What is paper made from?
materials. These materials are natural materials such as trees, sand and oil.
What raw material is glass
• Select individual items and ask the class what they think they are mostly
made from? etc
made of.
Why is it important for us to
• Ask the class what the environmental implications might be. What if the try and reduce the amount
raw materials have to come from far away e.g. aluminium from Australia or of waste we produce?
crude oil from Norway? Are these raw materials going to last forever?

• Put all the rubbish back in the bag for use in the plenary section.
Consolidation
15 mins • Give out the worksheet ‘What should we do with our food waste and What should we do before
packaging?’ (Resource Sheet R.1c). Ask students to work through exercises putting our bottles and cans
1 to 3. in the recycling bin?

• Go through the answers with the whole class. Highlight the key facts What kind of things do you
about composting and recycling e.g. containers must be washed before think can go in a compost
being put in a recycling bin; cooked food should not be composted in bin?
a garden compost bin. (NB: In some parts of the UK and Ireland local
authorities now collect all food waste, including cooked food, for industrial
composting)
10 mins Extension Activity
• When individuals have finished questions 1 to 3 they could create a poster
to teach other students in the school about what to do with their food waste.
(See ‘What can we do with out food waste?’ Resource Sheet R.1d.)

Lesson Plan 1: Page 2

10 mins Plenary/Reflection
• Put the four labels from the sorting activity on tables around the room and Why is it important for
add a fifth label ‘reduce’ (‘rubbish’ ‘reuse’ ‘recycle’ ‘compost’ and ‘reduce’). people to reduce their
Empty the bag of waste items on a table in the middle of the room and get waste?
the class to sort the rubbish into the five groups.
Why it important for
• Use the waste hierarchy diagram (Resource Sheet R.1e) to elicit and people to reduce, reuse,
consolidate the learning. recycle and compost?

Resources Key Vocabulary

Pictures of landfill site (Resource Sheet R.1a)

A bag of food related waste. Items to include; cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, Waste
jars,(consider safety requirements if you choose to use glass items) crisp packets, plastic Landfill
bags, sweet/chocolate wrappers, transparent plastic bag containing fruit/vegetable Reduce
peelings, paper packaging, cardboard packaging. (Ensure that all of the waste is clean Reuse
and clear of any sharp edges. If you are worried about students touching the waste you Recycle
could prepare picture cards instead of using real waste items.) Compost
Manufacture
Five large labels - ‘rubbish’ ‘reduce’ ‘reuse’ ‘recycle’ and ‘compost’ (Resource Sheet R.1b) Raw materials

What should we do with our food waste? (Resource Sheet R.1c)

Poster - What can we do with our food waste? (Resource Sheet R.1d)

The waste hierarchy diagram (Resource Sheet R.1e)

Fact Sheets
Glass Facts, Metal Facts, Plastic Facts, Paper Facts, What is Landfill, Problems with Land-
fill Sites

Lesson Plan 1: Page 3