Reading schools get the yellow recycling bug - 3 March 2005
Schools across Reading are competing in the Yellow Woods Challenge 2005 – the simple, educational and fun environmental campaign run by Yellow Pages and the Woodland Trust working with Reading Borough Council.Kirk, the recycling bug and campaign mascot, is urging schoolchildren, their families and friends to bring old Yellow Pages directories to school for recycling into cardboard and packaging by Severnside Recycling.
The Yellow Woods Challenge aims to get children into the recycling habit while learning all about paper, recycling and woodland conservation through Kirk’s lively teaching materials and Challenge video.
The schools that collect the most directories per pupil will win cash prizes from Yellow Pages. For every pound awarded to schools, a matching pound will be given to the Woodland Trust to support its new tree planting campaign, ‘Tree For All’, and enable hundreds of schools to plant native tree saplings in their grounds.
Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages directories, said: “Since 2002, more than half a million schoolchildren have taken on the Yellow Woods Challenge. This year, we expect 300,000 pupils across the UK to have fun recycling Yellow Pages directories and learning about the environment with Kirk.”
June Orton, Reading’s lead councillor for environment and consumer affairs, said: “This is the third year that we are recycling Yellow Pages directories with schools. We hope it has become something teachers, parents and pupils all look forward to in the school calendar. It not only keeps old directories out of landfill, but also helps us deliver lots of other recycling messages to schools.”
Residents who do not have a child attending a participating school can recycle their old Yellow Pages directory via kerbside recycling boxes or wheelie bins. For further information, call Jeff Layhe, recycling liaison officer at Reading Borough Council on 0118 939 0900, contact the Directory Recycling Helpline on 0800 671 444 (lines open Monday – Friday from 8.30am – 5.30pm) or visit: www.yellgroup.com.
