STUDENTS at Wilton Primary School will get the opportunity to learn more about the benefits of recycling as part of the ‘Check it before you chuck it’ campaign.
As part of the campaign, staff from the council’s waste and recycling team will be teaching the pupils about what items should be put in the different bins as well as explaining what happens to recycling once it’s been collected.
In addition to talks by staff, pupils will have the opportunity to play a variety of recycling games, including recycling bin basketball which teaches pupils about what can and can’t be recycled by throwing plastic bottles and tins through the hoop and into the bin.
It is hoped that by making recycling fun, the pupils will become better recyclers themselves as well as passing on the message to their parents to recycle better at home.
Becoming a better recycler has a marked improvement on the environment, recycling one tonne of paper saves enough energy to heat a home for six months and recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a light bulb for three hours.
Currently, 43% of waste is recycled in the borough but increasing that number, and decreasing the amount of contaminated recycling sent back to the council, will see an increase in savings which can be re-invested in other areas.
Cllr Alec Brown, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “I’m hoping that the ‘Check it before you chuck it’ campaign will encourage pupils at Wilton Primary to take up recycling and show their parents how easy it is to become a good recycler. I am very pleased the school is taking part in this event, if we can encourage kids from a young age to be good recyclers it is something they’ll carry on doing for years to come.
“With climate change an increasing risk to the world, it has never been more important to become a better recycler and re-use more products rather than pollute the environment making new ones.”
To find out more about ‘Check it before you chuck it’ and what can and can’t be recycled, go to www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/recycling.