WRAP the Waste Resources Action Programme

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

Resource Pack for Secondary Schools

Acknowledgements

Collation and authoring of the teaching materials1:

Jo Gwillim and Ann MacGarry (Centre for Alternative Technology) Colette Pitts and Karen Mills (Collective Learning) Rhys Bebb (Eco Schools Wales/Keep Wales Tidy)

WRAP would like to thank the staff and pupils at the following secondary schools in Newport for their contributions and support during the development of these materials:

Basseleg SchoolDuffryn High SchoolHartridge High SchoolSt Julian’s School

This project was supported by2: Simms Recycling Solutions, Newport City Council, Newport Wastesavers, Waste Awareness Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government

Image credits

Huw John Powerpoint slide 1 Sims Recycling Solutions slides 2,3,4,5,7,10Basel Action Network slide 8Centre for Alternative Technology photographs (appendices)

1 www.cat.org.ukwww.collectivelearning.co.ukwww.eco-schoolswales.org

2 www.SimsRecycling.co.ukwww.newport.gov.ukwww.wastesavers.co.ukwww.wasteawarenesswales.org.ukwww.wales.gov.uk

Contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2

Overview: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Disposing of WEEE responsibly ……………………………………………………………………………………….

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Lesson Plan ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

Lesson Outline …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Differentiation …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Further activities …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Useful References and Resources …………………………………………………………………………………………….

Getting Further Help and Advice………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Appendices ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Classroom pictures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………Density of common plastics …………………………………………………………………………………………….Jumping ring construction and use ……………………………………………………………………………………

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Introduction

For schools involved in a WEEE collection day/event these materials and notes are intended to provide ideas for ways in which the educational value of the day for pupils can be enhanced and enriched. Involvement in the day itself not only provides opportunities for community participation but also actively encourages young people to examine the impact of their actions and choices locally and globally and become active global citizens.

The main classroom activity that is described, lends itself most readily to Science or Design and Technology but there are numerous opportunities to extend the work to other subjects – particularly Geography; and to link the work to various cross curricular themes, frameworks or strands such as PSE/PSHE within the different curricula. As one of the fastest growing industries recycling also provides ample opportunities to explore careers and the world of work.

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Overview

Consumption and Waste Reduces wasteProvides opportunities to: Raise awareness of the Waste hierarchy

(prevention, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover) Consider sustainable product design

Disposing of WEEE responsibly

Natural Environment Reduces quarrying and mining Conserve resources Protects natural habitats and

ecosystemsProvides opportunities to: Highlight the impact of human

activity

Wealth and povertyProvides opportunities to: Increase understanding of the

inequalities that exist between people within and between countries

Highlight issues relating to unequal access to resources and wealth

Choices and Decisions Reduces consumption Provides opportunities to: Increase understanding of how

our actions and consumer choices impact on others

HealthProvides opportunities to: Consider ethical issues such as the

health implications for workers in counties where illegal toxic waste is off-loaded

Climate Change Conserves energyProvides opportunities to: Raise awareness of the links

between lifestyle and CO2 emissions

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Lesson Plan

Prior knowledgeNo prior knowledge is required, but familiarity with the following would be useful:

We need to burn fossil fuels for energy and this creates carbon dioxide gas. Greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change. Magnets attract ferrous metals. Some materials will float and sink in water.

There are also many cross curricular opportunities outlined later in this document.

Room requirements Science Lab or DT room with benches for group work in 3’s or 4’s. Access to water taps. Work benches or tables that won’t get damaged by water. Data projector and speakers. Computer for power point and video.

Resources required 16 x items of a varied range of scrapped Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). 8 x 1 litre plastic beakers or measuring jugs 8 x strong magnets. A perforated plastic tray with a mixture of pre washed shredded WEEE waste3 including low and high density plastic, steel, and

aluminium. The low density plastics should be polypropylene and /or LDPE and the higher density a mixture of ABS and solid polystyrene. A table of common plastic densities is given at the end of the lesson plan.

8 x 500g containers of table salt. Paper towels. A copy of “Home Sweet Home” video. Available from http://www.anitasancha.co.uk. A low resolution copy can be watch free on line, or a

high resolution copy can be downloaded for £3.99 or a DVD purchased for £5.99

Setting up the classroomSetup the room so that pupils can work in groups of 3 or 4. Each group’s table should have at least two different types of WEEE such that the common materials (steel and plastic) and power source can be clearly identified.

3 Ask your local approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) for samples. A list of approbed AATF’s can be found on the Environment Agency website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32086.aspx

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Lesson Outline

Time (mins)

Activity Powerpoint Slides

3 Ask pupils if they had been aware of the collection day and whether they had been involved in any wayDescribe what the collection day had entailed using power point images.

Slide 1 Newport WEEE collection. Pupils assiting with the collection

5 Show video “Home sweet home”.Ask what was making planet earth unhappy.Discuss the major sources of CO2 emissions in a UK person’s lives. Heating, transport, food but most importantly the STUFF WE BUY.Find out who the “shopaholics” are.Ask “are there any other problems associated with Buying lots of stuff. Points to bring out are pollution associated with production, distribution and disposal, as well as resource depletion. Especially oil and metals in short supply such as copper or lead.Ask about what evidence they have to support this. – rising fuel prices, and roof lead and copper wire being stolen as the scrap value increases.

5 Establish what WEEE stands for. (Waste Electrical and Electrical Equipment)Show the PowerPoint slide of the composition of waste from the Newport collections.Ask pupils to check that the equipment they have on their table has a plug/socket/USB or can be powered by batteries.Explain that if equipment has a plug/socket or has batteries it can be recycled.

Slide 2 Items of WEEE waiting to go into the recycling plant

5 Ask pupils to identify the most common materials in the equipment. – plastic and steel.Other materials being aluminium and copper.Get the pupils to identify the 2 most significant materials – steel (ferrous) and plastic.

5 Tell pupils that there are large factories that take up to 100,000 tonnes of WEEE waste per year and separate it into the various types of metals and plastics so that it can be recycled by plastic and metal manufacturers. Show slides of equipment piled up and going into the factory.Ask pupils what goes on in these factories. How are the objects they see in front of them split up (separated) into different types of material.Discuss with the class how this could be done.Tell pupils that there are in fact very few workers in the factory. Nearly everything is done by machines. Show slides of the shredded and sorted materialsTell pupils that the WEEE is broken into small pieces or shredded.

Slide 3 Shredded and sorted WEEE

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5 Share the mixed tray of shredded waste between the groups and explain that it’s of no use unless the materials are separated into to separate piles of very high purity.Ask how the factory might separate the materials. Draw out their ideas; magnets, floatation, weight etc and discuss each.Tell pupils their task this lesson is to sort their mixed materials into separate piles.

5 Handout the magnets and ask pupils to separate the ferrous material into a separate pile.Show the slide of the big magnetic drum used to separate ferrous materials in the factory.

Slide 5 Magnetic drum

5 Ask pupils to look at what is left. Is the plastic all of the same type? Some are hard and some more flexible. Show the power point slide of the different types of plastic. How can these be separated?Show them a measuring jug and ask if that gives them any clues. Tell them that different materials will have different densities; some will float and some will sink in water. Handout jugs, tell groups to fill to 500ml and separate out the floating and sinking material into separate piles.

Slide 4 Different types of plastic

5 Ask The sinking material contains metal and plastic. How can they be separated as they are both non magnetic? Show the jumping ring apparatus and explain that an electric current through a coil of wire creates a magnetic field and an a.c. current produces a changing magnetic field. Show the copper and steel rings and Ask the pupils to predict what will happen to the steel and copper rings when the coil is energised. Demonstrate that a changing magnetic field will repel a non ferrous conductor. This can be used to separate non ferrous metals from other materials.

3 Why bother to recycle? – saving raw materials. Show slides bauxite mining and the aluminium extraction plant. Brainstorm problems: Loss of biodiversity, loss of productive land, resource depletion, not only bauxite but also the fossil fuels needed for energy at every stage in the process.

Slide 6 Bauxite miningSlide 7 Recycling scrap aluminium

3 Why bother to recycle? - Looking after people and the environment. Show the slide of what happens to WEEE goods if they are not properly disposed of by us and are sent overseas. Discuss whether this is fair. Get the class to think about what we in Britain need to do to make sure that people in other countries don’t suffer because of us buying new equipment.Pic 1 Inside the burn houses Guiyu ChinaWomen sit by the fireplaces and cook imported computer partsPic 2 Lagos NigeriaChildren standing in front of smouldering electronic waste . urned elctronic waste produces carcinogenic and highly toxic chemicals. These children live next to the dump.Source: Basel Action Network

Slide 8 Toxic waste

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3 Why bother to recycle? - saving energy and carbon dioxide. Refer to the Climate Change Act4. Discuss the implications for the pupils of an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 – they will be in their 50’s. Unless energy saving and renewable energy measures are adopted it will mean heating houses, driving cars, using computers etc only 1 day in 5. Pupils to discuss in their groups whether this type of life would be acceptable to them and what alternatives there might be.Energy reduction measures such as recycling will be vital if we are to live the sort of lives we would like.

3 Show slides of the Sims WEEE plant in Newport. Linking the work that the pupils had done in the classroom with what happens in real life.

Slide 9

3 Quick fire questions to finish off. Go round each group and ask them questions to see how much they had learnt. Some suggestions:

What happens to WEEE if it’s not properly disposed of in the UK?Why is making Aluminium so bad for the environment?What does WEEE stand for and how can you work out if something is WEEE?The energy that’s saved by recycling aluminium can run a TV for how many hours?What is ferrous metal? And how can it be separated?How can different plastics be separated?

4 For up to date information regarding legislation and climate change http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/contents

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Differentiation

More able pupils could be given the basic equipment and the task of sorting their shredded WEEE attempt it with little direction. The properties of magnets and the concept of materials of different densities floating or sinking should be well established.

If more time is available or some groups finish earlier the remaining sinking material may be further separated by adding common salt to the water to increase its density. As a guide 36g of table salt in 500ml of water increased its density sufficiently to separate mixed ABS and polystyrene. The exact quantity required will change depending on the plastics being used.

Less able pupils can concentrate more on the physical aspects of separating different materials. The different qualities of different plastics can be explored by careful examination of samples in terms of their stiffness, brittleness, density. Samples of shredded plastic can be compared with the plastic used in different parts of the WEEE equipment on display.

Further activities Investigation of the total life story of raw materials e.g. iron ore for a product that is recycled and one that is disposed of at the end of its

life. The “where’s the impact” card set detailed in the resources section is a very good tool for bringing this alive.

Thinking about sustainable product design. How can products be made in a sustainable way? Aspects to consider are:o The energy used in manufacture.o The energy used in use.o The life expectancy of the product.o The concept of built in redundancy.o The effect it has on the livelihood and well being of the people who contribute to each stage of its production.o The abundance of the raw materials needed to make the product.

Product pairs: looking at pairs of products designed to do the same task and comparing their qualities of sustainability. Examples could include different types or torches – wind up, normal battery powered, solar etc.

Performing a survey of school and household waste and using data from the BIR report (see resources section) to calculate which type of waste recycling or reduction would result in the largest energy and carbon dioxide savings.

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Useful References and Resources

Vital waste graphics. (UNEP/GRID Arendal publications) A free UN download with lots of information and graphics. It covers all aspects of waste from a global environmental and humanitarian perspective.www.grida.no/publications

Report on the Environmental Benefits of Recycling. Bureau of international recycling. A technical report looking in detail at the environmental aspects of recycling different materials. A useful reference document giving energy and CO2 savings of different processes.www.bir.org/pdf/BIR_CO2_ report .pdf

The living planet report 2008. A regular World Wildlife Fund publication giving an up to date assessment of the ecological state of the planet. It uses eco footprinting to look at human activity around the world and is very good at emphasising fair shares. http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report

Eco-schools have some good downloadable lesson plans for waste and consumption. Try the KS3waste minimization lesson in the climate change section.www.eco-schools.org

Sims Recycling Solutions web site has some excellent online animations of what actually happens in a WEEE recycling plant. In addition to some good “did you know?” facts and UN recycling reportshttp://simsrecycling.com/news-and-resources/audio-and-video

The recyclenow website has animations, information, and lesson plans complete with power points and videos. http://www.recyclenow.comWhere’s the impact is an excellent card based activity that allows pupils to work out for themselves the environmental impact of everyday objects that they take for granted. Available from the Centre for Alternative Technology. www.cat.org.uk

Getting Further Help and Advice

UK Wide:WRAP the Waste Resources Action Programme www.wrap.org.ukRecycle Now www.recyclenow.comRecycle More www.recycle-more.co.uk

Wales: 9

WRAP Cymru, the Waste Resources Action Programme www.wrapcymru.org.ukWaste Awareness Wales www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk

Scotland: Zero Waste Scotland www.zerowastescotland.org.uk

Northern Ireland: WRAP Northern Ireland, the Waste Resources Action Programme www.wrapni.org.ukArc 21 Southern Waste Management Partnership www.arc21.org.ukNorth West Region Waste Management Group www.northwestwaste.org.uk

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Appendices

Classroom Pictures

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Densities of common plastics

Plastic Common use Density (kg/l)PVC (polyvinyl chloride) Windows, guttering, cable insulation 1.1PET Fizzy drink bottles 1.36HDPE (high density polyethylene)

Plastic petrol cans. Pipes. 0.95

LDPE (low density polyethylene)

Plastic milk containers 0.92

PP (polypropylene) Plastic chairs, rope, car bumpers 0.91PS (polystyrene) Disposable cups, yoghurt containers 1.05ABS Phones, LEGO, computer keys 1.1

Jumping ring construction and use

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The coil is a 500g reel of 1.6mm (16 SWG) copper wire energised by a 12V A.C. supply of at least 12Amps. There is usually about a cm of wire protruding from a hole on one face from the start of the winding. If the enamel is scraped off a connection can be made to this, either using a terminal block or soldered. The other end of the wire is on the outside of the coil and it is easy to make a connection to this.

The jumping ring demonstration relies on the changing magnetic field inducing eddy currents in the ring. These currents create a magnetic field that repels that of the electromagnet. In a ferrous ring the magnetic attraction of the core is greater than the eddy current effect and the ring doesn’t jump. With a non ferrous ring (copper or aluminium) the field caused by the eddy currents is sufficient to make the ring jump.

Warning The coil and, and especially the copper ring will get hot. It should only continuously be used for periods of a few minutes and never by unattended pupils.

To view a Physics Lab demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_kKXJUargU

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