Pupils' Work in Havering

Classroom Recycling Mascots at Ardleigh Green

At the start of term our Education Officer worked with year 4 pupils at Ardleigh Green Junior School as part of their environment topic. The ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ learning days are designed to encourage children to take action on waste at school and home and to understand what they can do to reduce, reuse and recycle more. 

After learning where materials come from and why it is important to carry out the 3 R actions, children spent the afternoon working in teams to make recycling mascots for their class. The children had collected and brought into school a variety of materials that would otherwise have been thrown away.

At the end of the day all groups presented their mascots to the class. The children had to name their mascot and give a description of how it encouraged others to recycle. By working with materials such as crisp packets, lollypop sticks, buttons, plastic film and juice cartons, the teams created many fabulous creatures including Rob the Recycler (pictured) and Moshi Tron 2000!

Mobile Phone Recycling at Mead Primary School

The Recycle for your Community Education Officer Julia Roebuck worked with Mead Primary School to raise awareness of the importance of recycling waste electrical equipment, especially mobile phones.

With a growing number of young people using mobile phones, it has become increasingly important to teach them about Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling. All KS2 children at Mead explored the lifecycle of a mobile phone and learned that they are made from many materials including plastic, glass, copper and even gold!

These materials are sourced from many countries and are transported to factories around the world to be manufactured. With free upgrade offers and accidental damage to mobile phones, many phones are replaced every 2-3 years, but what happens to your old phone? Sending electrical equipment to landfill is illegal as it causes many environmental problems and is a waste of space and valuable resources.

The pupils told the life cycle story of a mobile phone through role plays in class. Four groups were selected to present the life cycle story to the rest of the school in assembly. Year three wrote instructions about ‘how to recycle a mobile phone at school’ and the Eco Committee created eye catching posters and images to decorate the mobile phone recycling bank in the school reception.

Great work Mead Primary School!

If your school is interested in learning more about WEEE, teaching resources can be found on the Big Challenge website.


Get in touch with Julia at Julia.Roebuck@wastewatch.org.uk to share your school's work!