Balleymoney schools turn Yellow Pages into cash - 29 March 2004
Pupils in Ballymoney have come up trumps in a schools recycling competition run by Ballymoney Borough Council/ ARENA Network and supported by the Directory Recycling Scheme, sponsored by Yellow Pages.The sponsors offered a prize fund of £600 in cash to reward schools’ efforts in recycling Yellow Pages directories. Ballymoney Independent Christian School excelled in winning the top prize of £300 for collecting the highest number of directories per pupil - 14. Landhead Primary School came second and is awarded £200 for collecting nine directories per pupil. Garryduff Primary School came third and receives £100.
The competition saved approximately 12 tonnes of paper from going to landfill and more than 3,000 children from 20 schools across the borough took on the recycling challenge. Their combined efforts gathered almost 5,700 old Yellow Pages directories which will be recycled into paper products such as egg cartons.
Geoff McCormick, regional development executive with Ballymoney Borough Council/ ARENA Network, said: "Ballymoney Independent Christian School has exceeded all expectations in this competition. Considering there are only 16 pupils at this school, they pulled out all the stops by collecting the equivalent of 14 directories each. This school and all the other 19 that took part in the competition deserve a huge thank you for all their hard work and efforts during the competition."
"I would also like to congratulate Keelan Harkin of St. Joesph’s Primary School, Dunloy, for single-handedly collecting 150 directories - the highest number collected by one child during the competition. This number reflects the hard work and huge effort that this young man put into the competition. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the other pupils who strived to collect the highest number of directories."
"Finally, I would like to thank everyone within Ballymoney Borough Council and all the people of Ballymoney Borough who contributed to the competition and made it such a success."
Adam Billiald, co-ordinator of the Directory Recycling Scheme, said: "This has been a fantastic competition and I’m delighted with the results achieved by Ballymoney Independent Christian School and all the other schools that took part. I’d also like to thank the council for its tremendous support in recycling Yellow Pages directories."
Further information on recycling and environmental issues can be obtained by calling the council’s Recycling Education Officer, Declan Donnolly, on 028 2766 0200 or Geoff McCormick on 028 2766 0240.
For media enquiries, please contact Geoff McCormick, Ballymoney Borough Council on 028 2766 0240 or Adam Billiald, the Directory Recycling Scheme on 023 8023 6806.
Notes to editors
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages directories are published by Yell, a leading international directories business operating in the classified advertising market through printed, online and telephonebased media. Yell¹s products in the UK also include the Business Pages directory, Yell.com, Yellow Pages 118 24 7 and in the US, Yellow Book and Yellowbook.com.
The Directory Recycling Scheme
The Directory Recycling Scheme, sponsored by Yellow Pages, works with local authorities to encourage an increase in the number of Yellow Pages directories that UK households recycle. It runs a freephone helpline (0800 671 444) for the public to call to find out the nearest recycling point for their old Yellow Pages. Internet users can find this information via www.yellgroup.com.
ARENA Network
ARENA Network is a Business in the Community initiative. A not-for-profit campaigning organisation, Business in the Community has a core membership of 700 companies, including 75% of the FTSE 100. More than 220 of these companies are members in Northern Ireland. It works to inspire, challenge, engage and support business in continually improving its positive impact on society. The campaigns focus on the environment, the workplace, social impact and economic impact. The President is HRH The Prince of Wales.
