Rubbish Rebels is a programme of six lessons on waste reduction, created by CAfS especially for primary schools in Cumbria.

We were commissioned by Cumbria County Council to create this new interactive resource kit in 2018, after we ran a successful pilot scheme in 2017.

About the Rubbish Rebels programme

We worked with an experienced primary school teacher to create six lessons, each focusing on a different aspect of waste management:

  1. Where does our waste go?
  2. Sharing & swapping
  3. Freegle & reuse
  4. Upcycling
  5. Food waste
  6. Compost

For each lesson, there’s a detailed lesson plan for the teacher to follow, activities and worksheets to do in class and as homework, and videos made especially for Rubbish Rebels.

It covers elements of the Key Stage 2 (and possibly Key Stage 1) curriculum and schools can use the materials at any point in academic year. If they complete the whole Rubbish Rebels programme they’ll gain an award.

The videos were produced by Eden Lighthouse and the eye-catching Rubbish Rebels branding was created for us by Jili Allen Creative. We delivered the programme to Cumbria County Council in December 2018 for distribution to all primary schools in the county.

We’re looking forward to hearing feedback from the schools!

About the Rubbish Rebels pilot in 2017

Rubbish Rebels winners St Catherine's in PenrithRubbish Rebels was born in 2017, when CAfS was asked by Cumbria County Council to create a brand-new interactive session on waste and deliver it in twenty primary schools across Cumbria. The goal was to reduce the amount of waste generated in school and at pupils’ homes.

CAfS teamed up with an experienced teacher and developed a 90-minute Rubbish Rebels workshop. We then delivered it during the 2017 spring and summer terms.

Our challenge was to also involve the pupils’ families, so that they could make changes at home to reduce waste.

Rubbish Rebels trophy CAfS

We devised a Rubbish Rebels challenge, with a prize of £500 to be won for the schools. The families of every pupil at the twenty schools were invited to make pledges to cut down on waste, with points for every pledge made. There were also pledges that the schools could make to gain extra points.

We worked with PHDCC to create a brand-new online pledge tool for the parents to use.

The winner of the Rubbish Rebels Challenge was St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School in Penrith.

As well as the cash prize, the school won a unique trophy created for CAfS by Ragtag Arts & Community Scrapstore.