Sophie Hadden at WRAP has sent the following information about free recycling resources for secondary teachers (although the site mentioned also has material for primary schools too):

“From this term, teachers will have new online resources to teach the benefits of recycling. The resources have been developed by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), with advice and support from the recycling industry and classroom teachers.

The resources use recycling as a theme to deliver some of the core concepts of the Key Stage 3 Citizenship curriculum, helping students to play an active role as citizens in their community.

The teaching materials include a series of innovative lesson plans, assembly resources and an extended school project to show pupils how they can make a difference by recycling more.

The resources have been tested by teachers and are designed to be interactive, relevant and engaging for pupils, while helping teachers deliver against the national curriculum. Each lesson uses video, featuring teenagers Charlie and Joel, to introduce ideas, raise questions and set challenges, and is built around one or more core activities, like role play, card sequencing, or student opinion lines. The lessons focus on the following areas:

• lesson one looks at students’ current attitudes, behaviour and understanding of recycling;
• lesson two explores the consequences of students’ decisions to recycle or bin their rubbish;
• lesson three includes an interview Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, and uses role-play to help students think about the role of government, businesses and consumers in recycling more; and
• lesson four helps students to think about actions they can take in their own lives to recycle more, and leads into a whole school project.

All the resources can be downloaded for free from www.recyclenow.com/schools, where teachers can also access a range of information and advice on recycling at school and learn more about what’s working well in other schools.”