Year 6 visited the VEOLIA centre in Leeds this morning as part of their science learning. We’re currently learning about properties of materials and how this affects what we make objects out of and recycling is one of those properties – one that, currently, is very topical.
The children were pleasantly surprised when we arrived as many were under the impression our visit was to the tip! Luckily, our coach pulled up outside the very modern, state of the art VEOLIA building and there was almost an audible sigh of relief from the class.
We learnt all about how the centre works in order to work towards Leeds becoming a zero waste city. This great video can tell you more about it so you can discuss it home and see how you can help too.
We had a tour of the building which included going to see the huge living wall on the outside (very high up); entering the operation room where everything was controlled; and seeing the huge grabber dive in to pick up 3.6tonnes of rubbish to drop into the furnace where it’s burned at 850 degrees!
We all made a pledge for what we could do to contribute towards reducing waste in Leeds: ask us what we decided and see whether you could do it too.
And, we finished the morning off by putting everything we’d learnt into a bit of healthy competition. Ask us how the game worked and something we learnt while we were playing.
There’s lots you could do at home to help Leeds reduce its waste. See whether your child can suggest something and see whether you’re putting the correct items into the correct bins.