* Set up a display of everyday materials - paper, glass, drinks cans, plastic toys. Create a profile card for each one, tracing the material’s history - where it originated, in what form, the process used to make it.

To add interest in your display, make the objects into models and upgrade your display to an art exhibition

* Prove the accusation that packaging is one of the greatest offenders in our throwaway society by building a packaging mountain of paper, cardboard and plastic in the classroom. Why is so much packaging used? How much of it is necessary? Where does it go when goods have been unwrapped? Write to some of the companies who contributed to your mountain telling them your views and asking for explanations

* Plan a rescue campaign for some of the planet’s scarce resources. What materials are in danger of running out? How can they be collected and recycled? Create posters and leaflets to persuade people to recycle.

Include slogans, information you have discovered and fascinating facts about how materials can be re-used and what they can be turned into

* Imagine yourselves 50 years from now. How will our world look? Write letters to your grandchildren explaining how actions taken when you were young helped to save the planet. Or, explain to them what happened because nobody took recycling seriously enough Secondary

* More than 66,000 tonnes of rubbish is thrown into the Newport landfill site each year. At this rate, the site will be full in 10 years and a new site will have to be found. Investigate the problems associated with landfill sites. On what kind of landscape are they usually sited? What are the alternatives to tipping and what hazards do they present?

* Eighty-seven per cent of all household waste in Britain could be recycled. Imagine you are the party in power in this country. Draft new laws to ensure that recycling becomes an effective way of life. How would you enforce those laws? What measures would you have to put in place first?

* Paper is a vital resource in our society and for every tonne of it that is recycled 17 trees are spared. But that’s not the whole story - trees aren’t the only environmental casualty of paper-making. Explore the process of making new paper and its implications for another of the planet’s valuable natural resources

* Research, script and make a video film using the title Human greed versus human need to highlight the problem of waste in your area