A way of getting pupils to think about their impact on the environment is to do an audit of the waste in their lunchbox.
Working in pairs and wearing plastic gloves, ask them to sort it into containers labelled: reusable, recyclable, landfill and compost.
Weigh the containers and instruct pupils to work out how much waste there would be for a week, a year and for every class in the school.
Discuss ideas to reduce the waste. Perhaps it would be possible for your school to obtain a compost bin.
But waste is only a small part of the environmental problem. For homework, pupils can look at the country of origin of their food.
Elizabeth Smith teaches at Badsworth Church of England Junior and Infant School in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
