Recycling Competition Winner Announced

A winning school from Rhondda Cynon Taf has collected enough school uniform to not only secure a top prize but to supply each pupil in its school, with a school jumper, with some leftover to spare!

Trealaw Primary School has scooped the top prize of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s school Re-uniform recycling competition, as they have collected a massive 95,915g of school uniform – equivalent to 383 school jumpers!

They were closely followed by Coedpenmaen Primary School, who took home second prize and Abernant Primary School who scooped third prize. Together, the three winning schools collected the equivalent weight of enough jumpers for every pupil in the top three schools to receive 2 jumpers each.

The challenge, which was set in September, asked schools to collect as much school uniform as possible and bring them in to their schools to be recycled or reused. The total amount of uniform collected was then calculated in line with the number of pupils at the participating school to find the overall winner.

A total of 19 schools took part in the challenge which saw over 1,374,842

grams of school uniform collected – that’s equivalent to the weight of 5,499 jumpers.

The top three schools scooped cash prizes for their winning efforts with;

• Trealaw Primary School receiving £300,
• Coedpenmaen Primary School, receiving £100,
• Abernant Primary School receiving £50.

The three schools received their prizes at a special event in Bryn Pica’s Recycling Education and Visitors Centre, Llwydcoed, which allowed them to see how much recycling was collected by all 19 schools – The collected uniform items were stacked in washing piles, to showcase just how important recycling just one item can be. Pupils from the school were also given a taster session in the Education Centre where they explored the interactive resources and found out lots of information about recycling in RCT. They also experienced sorting recyclable materials for themselves in the mini-Materials Recovery Facility.

Councillor Ann Crimmings, Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure said:

“Congratulations must go to the pupils of all the 19 schools across Rhondda Cynon Taf that took part in the competition.

“They collected an unprecedented amount that has resulted in over of 1,374,842g potential waste being re-used, recycled, and successfully diverted from landfill.

“The pupils have shown a real enthusiasm for recycling and understand why it is so important. Recycling should now be a vital part of all our lives. As we run out of space for our waste, we have to do all we can to ensure we reduce what we throw away, reuse what we can, and recycle at every opportunity. The Council is championing various services to help all its residents to recycle, including a weekly kerbside dry, food and nappy recycling service.

“Together we can make a difference as these school pupils have shown. Keep up the great work!”

If you are ready to take on the recycling challenge, you can play the GAME at www.rctcbc.gov.uk/RecyclingGameOn. Don’t forget to share your top scores with us via our Social Media Channels and use the #LetsUpOurRecyclingGAME.

For more information and to book your school or community group trip, visit, www.rctcbc.gov.uk/VisitBrynPica email VisitBrynPica@rctcbc.gov.uk.

For further information on recycling in RCT, visit www.rctcbc.gov.uk/recycling or follow the Council on Facebook/Twitter.