My Account
Around 100 students from Snells Beach School had a rubbish education experience recently – and that was exactly what they were looking for.
The Year 5 and 6 seniors spent the day at the Warkworth Re:Sort resource recovery and transfer station off Sandspit Road, to find out what happens when various items are thrown away.
Northland Waste project manager April Peter said that instead of a standard educational tour of the site, staff decided to make things more fun and hands-on, with a range of practical activities including a plastics recycling race, building a mini-landfill and deconstructing scrap metal objects.
The students were split into three groups that each spent 40 minutes on recycling education, a site tour, learning about landfills and, finally, a spin round Re:Sort in one of Northland Waste’s rubbish trucks.
Peter said practical activities like pulling out wood waste, sorting different metals and mixing clay for a mini-landfill liner were a hit, and not just with the students.
“It really brought out the big kid in all of those that were involved,” she said. “The real crowd pleaser was a ride in our trucks with our lovely drivers, who after 70 loops of the site, were probably feeling a bit dizzy.”
Peter added that the Re:Sort team were pleased to be able to get involved when Snells Beach School approached them for help with their sustainability and environment theme for this term.
“We were only too happy to say yes,” she said. “The kids had a great time, and we would love to offer this tour to schools within our local community as an ongoing education initiative in the future.”
Senior school head Kyle Port said the visit was spot-on and the students were buzzing afterwards.
“All of the teachers were really impressed and enthused by the visit, and the kids have come away with lots of questions and inspiration,” he said. “In particular, seeing and being hands-on with how landfills are constructed and designed was really informative, and the recycling organising was great.”
Info: Email Rob Lambert at Rob.Lambert@northlandwaste.co.nz
