Year 8 visit the Energy from Waste Centre in Plymouth.

We were welcomed to the Energy from Waste (EfW) centre in Plymouth by Jade who gave us lots of information about recycling at the plant then took pupils on a tour. There was lots to see.

On Tuesday, 8B travelled to Plymouth Recycling Centre. When we arrived, we all watched a video about what the centre does. Then, we completed a quiz and won a pencil made from recycled old pound notes. We put on our high visibility vests and helmets then we went on a tour of the recycling centre. We saw the control room and a huge fire that burns rubbish to generate energy (this was our favourite part).

8N had a fantastic time at the recycling centre last week.

We particularly enjoyed looking in the furnace at all the rubbish burning and we enjoyed looking at the computers in the controller chair.  We learnt so much about how things can be recycled and have got much better at recycling in our classroom since!

8C thoroughly enjoyed the Trip to Plymouth power plant, their expectations were exceeded by the plant and how they deal with our daily waste. Their business runs seamlessly and takes all waste and turns it into power for various different business’s & places. 8C were thrilled by this and by the sheer size of the plant. They have learnt & gained experience about our wider community, they thoroughly enjoyed the trip, so much so they want to go back!

8P found out lots of interesting facts about recycling at the plant and realised that they did not waste anything. Pupils took part in a quiz and discovered that 200, 000 tonnes of waste from Plymouth, Torbay and parts of Devon is sent to the Plymouth EfW plant each year - this is the same weight as 1, 053 blue whales! Pupils were given a pencil made from three old £5 notes if they answered questions correctly. They were very impressed with the “£15” pencil!

8S had a fabulous time at Plymouth EfW CHP finding out about where all our non-recyclable waste goes. Lots of children and adults still thought that lots of our waste went to landfill sites. We were really surprised to hear that not one bit of rubbish goes to waste and that the ash from burning process is used as aggregate for our roads! The children loved the viewing platform where we could see the grabber collecting and depositing the waste in to the funnel for the fire and also seeing the fire itself. The fire could reach temperatures of 1000 degrees – as hot as lava!