Falkirk Council

There are many litter related activities that you can undertake at school.  In this section it is assumed that the activities are being undertaken by a class but many of them can be adapted for a whole school event or a smaller group such as an eco group or environment club.  Most of the activities can also be adapted to suit different ages and abilities.  Further guidance and information is available from the Litter Education Support Officer.

Primary School Litter Pick and Survey Pack

The Litter Pick and Survey Pack contains all the information you will need to carry out your own surveys and litter picks. This can be downloaded as a whole document or you can select the individual sheets you require form the menu below.

Contents include:

1. Organising a Litter Pick (PDF, 53KB)
2. Instructions for Litter Picking (PDF, 46KB)
3. Litter Pick Record (PDF, 38KB)
4. Organising a Litter Survey (PDF, 54KB)
5. Instructions for Litter Survey and Pick (PDF, 49KB)
6. Litter Survey Tally Sheet (P4-7) (PDF, 14KB)
7. Litter Survey Tally Sheet (P1-3) (PDF, 110KB)
8. Generic School Risk Assessment (PDF, 26KB)
9. Litter Pick & Clean Up Resource Request Form (PDF, 13KB)

Secondary School Litter Pick and Survey Pack

This pack contains information for carrying out litter picks and surveys in Secondary schools. You can download the whole document or you can select the sheets you require from the menu below.

1. Organising a Litter Pick (PDF, 57KB)
2. Litter Pick Record (PDF, 34KB)
3. Litter Survey Record Sheet (PDF, 33KB)
4. Secondary School Survey (LEAMS) (PDF, 94KB)
5. Copy of Council Risk Assessment (PDF, 35KB)
6. Litter Pick & Clean Up Resource Request Form (PDF, 14KB)

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Litter Campaigns

If litter is a problem either inside or outside your school the pupils might be keen to take action to improve the environment.  A campaign can be something as basic as putting up posters around the school. These can be designed on the computer or simply with paint, pens or collage.

If the problem is outside the school it might be useful to start with a survey to highlight the main issues of concern.  To get the message across to others in the community use posters, newsletters, notice boards in libraries and shops in addition to any existing methods of communication. 
Pupils should be able to come up with their own solutions to the litter problems identified and can then use notice boards, assemblies, newsletters and other methods to spread the message throughout the school.  Litter picking rotas at break times are often popular and some schools use reward (or penalty) schemes to encourage the use of bins.

For more information contact the Litter Education Support Officer or use the information sheets to help you design your campaign.

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Questionnaires

Questionnaires are a great way of extending the litter topic beyond the classroom.  They can be used to investigate the attitudes of children and/or adults to litter and can be used inside the school or in the community.  The advantage of this type of exercise is that it gets other members of the community involved and therefore spreads the anti littering message outside of the school gates. You can design your own questionnaire or you can download an example questionnaire here.

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Litter History

Litter can also be used to link to People in the Past topics.  Pupils can find out how perceptions of litter and the causes of litter have changed over time.

Parents and grandparents provide a valuable source of information about how packaging, eating habits and other social habits have changed over the years and their effect on litter and the environment.

More information on litter through the ages is available here or the pupils can do their own research online.

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Rubbish Poems and Limericks

Pupils can explore their creative side by writing their own rubbish poems. There are two different styles of poem featured here, one focusing on the topic and the other focusing on rhythm and rhymes.

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Where does it go?

Why not try the scientific approach and help the pupils gain an understanding of what happens to litter and highlight the fact that it does not simply disappear. You can follow up this exercise with a discussion about where pupils should put their litter and if you want to go further you can look at what types of litter you can recycle and compost.

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Responsibility

This activity encourages pupils to develop their own opinions and highlights their responsibility for their own actions. It can be done in your school grounds or you can take them out to a local landmark or a local park or woodland. Many people don't think litter has a big impact in the towns and cities but by taking the pupils out you can show them first hand how their actions can effect the environment. This is also a good way to get pupils thinking about designing their own Anti litter Campaign.

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Trump Cards

Top Trumps is a game that has been enjoyed by young people for generations and is still going from strength to strength. Through this activity pupils will be able to demonstrate their artistic abilities, research skills and learn about litter and waste while developing their own version of this classic game.

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Waste Free Lunch

Many schools try the waste free lunch as part of their work on waste minimisation.  It involves challenging children (and their parents) to provide a packed lunch that creates as little waste as possible.  The result should be less plastic bottles, crisp packets, sweet papers, yoghurt pots etc. to throw away and possibly more compost for the compost bin.  It can be interesting to use this idea when looking at litter.  Comparisons can be made by weighing the amount of waste created on an 'ordinary' lunch day and that created on a waste free lunch day.  Alternatively on a healthy eating week you may run a healthy tuck shop and ban crisps.  Compare the amount of litter and waste generated during an ordinary week and that resulting from a 'healthy' week.  It can often be found that a spin off from healthy eating promotion is a reduction in the amount of litter created.

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The Dangers of Litter

Litter can be very dangerous to us, animals and the environment. Many people, both children and adults, never think about what happens after they have dropped litter. By using a variety of pictures you can stimulate discussions about the impacts litter can have in the school and out in the wider environment. You can also look at how litter affects the rest of the world. Dropping litter here does not only have consequences here, litter can travel across the globe and have an impact where you least expect it. Think about how litter can travel and what might happen if it gets to the sea.

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Litter pledge form

Some people believe that if you can get someone to state that they will do something then they are more inclined to stick to that agreement. In addition to this if you can get someone to write that they will do something the chances of them doing it will increase again. By using a Litter Pledge you can encourage pupils to be responsible for their litter and by displaying the form for all to see you can encourage the pupils to stick by this agreement. You can either design your own or you can use a copy of the pledge designed to fit the councils Litter Code. Don't forget to sign up to the council pledge|.

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