School Activities
School visits are made up of a tour of the facility – visiting the Control Room, Grab Crane controls and the viewing window into the grate.
While part of the class are having this tour, the rest will be carrying out activities focusing on waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
In the sections below can be found summaries of the activities and resources available for their planning and delivery
The Education Manager is also available to visit your school and deliver many of these activities as classroom sessions
School Visit Activities
On a Guided Tour you will visit the heart of Greatmoor EfW
You will see the Waste Bunker and Tipping Hall, hopefully seeing deliveries of waste being tipped into the bunker. You will also see waste being loaded into the Grate by the Grab Crane. All of this from the safety of the Grab Crane operating window.
You will see the Control Room, where the whole plant is operated and meet some of the people who work there.
You will also visit the Grate (or furnace), where the viewing window enables you to see the fire that is burning the waste and helping to generate the electricity, and then stand under the condenser fans, where it may be windy, very windy….hold onto your hard hat!
Secondary School groups will also be able to visit the Turbine Hall to witness the electricity being generated. This is also possible for Key Stage 2 groups if time allows.
Secondary age groups can visit the Turbine Hall, where the electricity is generated.
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Where does waste come from?
In this activity you will investigate the manufacturing process involved in 5 familiar waste items.
You will investigate the different stages in their production, and identify the natural resources and energy inputs required to create each item.
Aluminium Drink Can
Plastic Milk Bottle
Steel Food Can
Sheet of Office Paper
Glass Jam Jar
You will investigate the stages in the production of each item and calculate the energy used in their creation. You will then compare the items based on their environmental impact.
All of these items can be recycled. Using data showing the energy used in their recycling you will assess which items should be recycled and decide which one is the most important for recycling.
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes (Yrs 5 & 6 only) | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | No | No | Yes (Yrs 5 & 6 only) | Yes |
Do you know what waste should go in your household waste bins?
You will be given examples of everyday household waste, what are they made out of?
Should they be put in your recycling bin, food caddy or go with the non-recycling?
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
In this activity you will look at the packaging of some common household items
What is the packaging for? Is it all necessary?
How is packaging used to encourage purchasing?
How has packaging changed over the last 50 years?
Can you improve on the packaging of these items?
You will identify which elements of packaging are necessary, and which may not be. what is the packaging made from?
Can you redesign the packaging to minimise waste but still make the item attractive for the buyer?
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What can recyclable materials actually be recycled into?
Each group will have an aluminium can, plastic bottle, cardboard box and glass jar
But which of these can become a hi-viz jacket? Or a park bench? Or an aeroplane?
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How much waste is generated by your packed lunch?
If your class is bringing a packed lunch to Greatmoor, why not enter the Waste Free Lunch Challenge?
All of the waste from your classes’ lunch will be collected and weighed.
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
How much food gets wasted by UK households every day?
You’d better think of a number, then make it much larger
You’ll look at twelve common food items and try to select the three that you think are wasted the least and the three that are wasted the most.
But be prepared to be shocked and horrified!
How can we reduce food waste? What can be done with those over-ripe bananas and slightly soft carrots?
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How much waste is biodegradable?
How long does it take waste to break down into natural components if it is in landfill or just left lying around as litter?
In this hands on activity, you will be asked to estimate decay times for a range of common waste items such as crisp packets, aluminium cans and apple cores.
The decay times are then revealed on an ever expanding time line – which starts at 1 year then expands to over 1000 – how long will it take for all of our waste to break down?
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The Greatmoor Waste Awareness & Education Manager is able to visit your school and deliver assemblies, talks and classroom sessions
A standard assembly can cover the management of common items of household waste
With adequate notice, we are happy to tailor visits to your needs – for example
- At a school with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” as their term theme, we delivered an assembly on chocolate wrapper waste
- After Easter we delivered sessions investigating Easter egg packaging
Most of the activities above can be run as classroom sessions in school. Many such as Re-Imagining Packaging and Unmixing Your Recycling will require you to collect items for the activity in advance.
Some of the activities are suitable for Key Stage 0 and 1 (please see the relevant sections above)
What is reuse?
Can you think of great new ways to reuse items?
| Key Stage | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to Greatmoor | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach Visits to Schools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |