There are four workshops on recycling and geography, as shown below. Click on the i for more information on each workshop.

• Students take part in a role-play in which they assume the opinions of different characters taking part in a council meeting. They will need to use their imagination to consider other people's experiences and be able to think about, express, explain and critically evaluate the views of their character.
• They will have to put forward “their” points of view about a proposed waste disposal site and whether the land should be used for landfill, incineration or a recycling centre.
• Students work in pairs and are given information in a power point and on info sheets about the possible options for the site.
• They have about 15 minutes to reflect on the information and decide on the opinion of their character before the role-play begins.

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• A power point presentation introduces students to the motion “People should pay for waste disposal according to the weight of rubbish they produce.” Students are then provided with a range of sources of information on “Pay as you Throw” schemes.
• In two teams they have to formulate arguments for or against the motion. They can then express, justify and defend orally their opinion about the problem. Students get to contribute to group and exploratory class discussions in the form of a debate.

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• Students are transported forward in time to the year 2100. Scientists have just unearthed an old landfill site. They have put some of the artefacts from the find into large test-tubes.
• The students are given these as evidence and have to match them to the “present” situation. For example, excessive use of plastic 100 years ago has led to it being a rare and expensive material in 2100.
• Students put together a big jigsaw to show how actions in 2006 affect people in 2100. They then decide on messages to send back to the year 2006 so that people realise the importance of taking responsibility of their waste.

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• This workshop starts off with a presentation showing how we used to use renewable sources of energy until the industrial revolution. We look at reasons why we should be trying to return to renewables now (depending on how much work you have already done on energy resources, we can include or omit a section looking at each type of resource).
• For the activity, students work in groups. Each group represents a country. They are given cards to tell them about the climate, geography and resources that their country has.
• Each group then has to decide the best way for them to generate electricity. They need to consider the environmental and social impacts of their chosen energy resource(s).
• Key Stage 4 (in addition to the above, depending on time available): Students act out the carbon cycle. They see how burning fossil fuels has a worse effect on CO2 levels than burning biomass.

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• Citizenship - click here
• Science - click here
• Design - click here

The SWAP team is based at the Carymoor Environmental Centre near Castle Cary. This unusual site is Somerset's first Eco-Centre , and is built on a capped, recovered landfill site. It is situated next to the working landfill at Dimmer, putting the team in a unique position to explain and promote these themes in schools. Site visits and tours are also available by arrangement; please contact Graham Jennings on 01963 350786.

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