Fly-tipping detective

By the end, pupils can:

• reach a conclusion from several clues, naming the clue behind each part;
• explain what fly-tipping is and why it's against the law;
• say what a householder should check before handing rubbish over, and why a number on paper isn't enough;
• in lesson two, write a short report setting out the evidence.

On the case file. We are learning to use evidence to work out what happened. Success criteria:

• I can pick out facts from a clue and say which clue they come from.
• I can check a number against a register and spot when something doesn't match.
• I can say who broke the rules and give my evidence.

English, Years 5 and 6. Reading: “drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence”. Lesson two’s report: “identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing”.

English, key stage 3. Reading: “making inferences and referring to evidence in the text”. Writing: “writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences”.

Citizenship. Key stage 3 (statutory): “the nature of rules and laws and the justice system, including the role of the police and the operation of courts and tribunals”. Key stage 2 (non-statutory guidance): “why and how rules and laws are made and enforced”, so it fits citizenship or PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) time.

Geography. Key stage 2: “types of settlement and land use”, and in the outdoor version, “use fieldwork to observe, measure record and present the human and physical features in the local area”. At key stage 3 the outdoor version supports fieldwork.

One lesson, about an hour.

• 5 minutes: read the scene aloud and share what we are learning.
• 10 minutes: groups read the clues and pick out the facts.
• 15 minutes: groups check the register and fill in the case file.
• 10 minutes: groups decide who broke the rules, and why.
• 10 minutes: share verdicts and go through the answers.
• 7 minutes: plenary questions.
• 3 minutes: exit task.

Lesson two. Pupils write Kit Lowe's report to the council: what was found, the evidence, who did it, and what Alex should do next time. Year 5 can write a letter to Alex instead.

Outdoor version. Add 15 minutes to set up and 10 to walk out.

A4, black and white. Teacher's pages first, then pupil sheets, then the answers.

• You: the teacher's pages and the answers. Keep the answers back.
• Each group of three or four: the scene card, the clue cards (cut out) and the register.
• Each pupil: the two-page case file.

1. Read the scene aloud (below). Check pupils know what fly-tipping and a waste carrier are (a person or business that takes rubbish away for others). Share the success criteria on the case file.
2. Hand out the clues. Groups sort what they know from what they only think.
3. Hand out the register without saying what to look for. Groups that check the note's number against it crack the case.
4. Take verdicts, each with two pieces of evidence. Hear the Wendle Waste answers first: the scene card sets that trap on purpose.
5. Go through the answers, then the plenary and exit task.

Read this aloud to start.

Early on Saturday morning, someone found a pile of rubbish in the lay-by (a place to pull over at the side of the road) on Crowfoot Lane. It's a quiet country lane outside the village of Little Wendle.

In the pile there was an old sofa, a broken chest of drawers and six black bags full of junk from a loft.

Leaving rubbish on land where it isn't allowed is called fly-tipping. It's against the law. It spoils the countryside and can hurt animals, and the council has to pay to clear it up.

Kit Lowe works for the council. Kit's job is to find out who left the rubbish. Kit took photos and looked through the bags. Then Kit talked to people in the village.

Some people in the village are already blaming Wendle Waste & Clearance. It's a business in the village that takes rubbish away for people, and its white vans have green writing on the side.

A business that takes rubbish away for other people is called a waste carrier. Every waste carrier must be on a list called a register, and anyone can check it.

Your job is to read the clues, check the register and work out who broke the rules.

If a group is stuck. Ask one at a time, gentlest first:

1. “Whose things are in the pile? Which clue tells you?”
2. “Look up the number on the waste transfer note. Whose name is next to it?”
3. “Which van took Alex's things on Friday, and does the dog walker's van match it?”

Plenary questions. Recall first, reasoning last. Model answers are with the answers.

1. What is fly-tipping?
2. What is a waste carrier, and what list must it be on?
3. Which clue tied the rubbish to Alex Moss?
4. Why wasn't the number on the note enough?
5. Why did people blame Wendle Waste, and why were they wrong?
6. Alex didn't dump anything. Is it fair that Alex broke a rule too?

Exit task. On a slip of paper, write two things you'd check before letting someone take your family's rubbish away.

Easier or harder. Year 5: read the clues aloud together first. Years 7 and 8: drop the case file and have groups write their own questions.

Outdoor version. Set up the lay-by on the school grounds: cardboard boxes, clean bin bags stuffed with newspaper, an old cushion as the sofa, and the clues in plastic wallets. Pupils sketch and record the scene, then come in for the register.

Outdoor safety. Use clean props only. Never use real dumped waste or visit a real fly-tip: it can hold broken glass, needles or chemicals. Pupils wear gloves. Do a risk check first, under your school's policy. Anyone who finds real dumped rubbish leaves it and tells an adult, and you can report it to the council through GOV.UK.

Paperwork. Householders don't have to fill in a waste transfer note for their own rubbish. Alex got one anyway, which made the number easy to check. The legal duty is the check itself.

Numbers. Everything in the pack is made up. Pretend numbers start “PCR”. Real English ones start “CB”, so a search finds no real business. Use the pack's register. People say “waste carrier's licence”; the law says registration.

Verdict. Tidy Tip Clearances dumped the rubbish. Alex Moss broke a rule too, by not checking. Wendle Waste & Clearance is innocent: PCR-4417 on the note is its number, copied by Tidy Tip.

The law. Fly-tipping is an offence under section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. In the Crown Court it carries an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison (section 33(8)). Under section 34(2A), a householder must take all reasonable measures to hand household waste only to someone allowed to take it, and the code of practice says to check the carrier is registered. Failing to is an offence (section 34(6)). In England the council can give a fixed penalty notice instead (a fine paid instead of going to court, section 34ZA).

Case file answers:

1. An old sofa, a broken chest of drawers and six bags of loft junk, in the lay-by on Crowfoot Lane (the scene).
2. Alex Moss's, from 4 Mill Row. The receipt in a bag has Alex's name and address, and the shop doesn't take old furniture away (clue 1).
3. Tidy Tip Clearances, at about 5pm on Friday. The note lists the same things (clue 2), and Priya Lal saw a Tidy Tip van loading them (clue 4).
4. Wendle Waste & Clearance. Watch for pupils who pick PCR-4471 (Mill Farm Skips), which swaps the last two digits.
5. No, so Tidy Tip isn't allowed to carry other people's rubbish. It wrote down another business's number. Tidy Tops Tree Surgery is a different business: read the whole name.
6. Wendle Waste & Clearance and Tidy Tip Clearances both have green writing and CLEAR in the name. The rubbish tells them apart: it's Alex's (clue 1), and Alex's things went into the Tidy Tip van (clues 2 and 4). The ladder fits too (clues 3 and 4).
7. Tidy Tip Clearances (Dean and another man). They collected Alex's things on Friday, a van like theirs dumped a sofa in the lay-by on Saturday, and Alex's receipt was in the pile.
8. Yes. A householder must take reasonable steps to give rubbish only to someone allowed to take it. Alex had the number but didn't check it, and the register would have shown it belonged to another business. Paying cash to someone with only a first name and a mobile number was a warning sign too.
9. Yes. People blamed Wendle Waste because of its vans, but it did nothing wrong. Someone else used its number.

Plenary model answers:

1. What is fly-tipping? Leaving rubbish on land where it isn't allowed.
2. What is a waste carrier, and what list must it be on? A person or business that takes rubbish away for others. It must be on the register.
3. Which clue tied the rubbish to Alex Moss? The furniture receipt in a black bag, with Alex's name and address.
4. Why wasn't the number on the note enough? Anyone can write a number down. PCR-4417 belongs to Wendle Waste, and Tidy Tip isn't registered. Only the register shows whose number it is.
5. Why did people blame Wendle Waste, and why were they wrong? Its vans look similar and CLEAR is in its name. But Alex's things went into the Tidy Tip van.
6. Alex didn't dump anything. Is it fair that Alex broke a rule too? Open for debate. A strong answer: checking first stops rubbish reaching people who dump it.

Exit task, a good answer: That the business is on the register, under the same name and number it gives you. A written note and a business address are good signs. Only a first name and a mobile number is a warning sign.

Wales. Same Act, sections and code of practice as England. Carriers register with Natural Resources Wales. The section 34ZA fixed penalty is England only.

Scotland. Scotland's own versions of sections 33 and 34 apply: fly-tipping under section 33, and the householder's duty in section 34(2) to take reasonable steps to hand household waste only to someone allowed to take it. Carriers register with SEPA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Northern Ireland. The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997: fly-tipping under Article 4(1)(a), and the householder's duty in Article 5(2A), worded as England's. Carriers register with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, part of DAERA (the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs).

Each nation has its own curriculum. The lesson fits their reading, writing and citizenship work, but we haven't mapped it line by line.

• Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 33 (unauthorised deposit of waste), England and Wales, legislation.gov.uk
• Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34 (duty of care as respects waste), England and Wales, legislation.gov.uk
• Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34ZA (fixed penalty notices for householders, England), legislation.gov.uk
• Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 33, Scotland, legislation.gov.uk
• Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34, Scotland, legislation.gov.uk
• Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, Article 4 (unauthorised deposit of waste), legislation.gov.uk
• Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, Article 5 (duty of care), legislation.gov.uk
• Registration of carriers and brokers (Northern Ireland), DAERA
• Fly-tipping statistics for England, GOV.UK
• Fly-tipping: council responsibilities, GOV.UK
• Waste duty of care: code of practice (section 5, occupiers of domestic property), GOV.UK
• Dispose of household waste, GOV.UK
• Register or renew as a waste carrier, broker or dealer (England), GOV.UK
• Report fly-tipping, GOV.UK
• National curriculum in England: English programmes of study, GOV.UK
• National curriculum in England: citizenship programmes of study for key stages 3 and 4, GOV.UK
• Citizenship programmes of study for key stages 1 and 2 (non-statutory), GOV.UK
• National curriculum in England: geography programmes of study, GOV.UK