Spelthorne schools plant trees to celebrate recycling - 31 March 2005
Youngsters at Knowle Park Infants School have won £300 for their school by collecting the most Yellow Pages directories per pupil in a recycling competition.Over the last six weeks, 4,699 pupils at 13 schools across Spelthorne have taken on the Yellow Woods Challenge - the simple, educational and fun schools environmental campaign run by Yellow Pages and the Woodland Trust working with Spelthorne Borough Council. The schools have been collecting old Yellow Pages directories for recycling and a total of 5.7 tonnes will now be recycled into paper by Abitibi Consolidated Recycling Europe Ltd.
Knowle Park Infants School is celebrating its success in winning the local ‘Gold Oak’ title and the top prize money for collecting 2.51 directories per pupil. Hawkedale Infant School receives this year’s ‘Silver Birch’, winning £200 and Springfield Primary School receives the ‘Bronze Beech’ title. St Nicholas C of E Primary School wins £100 cash for collecting 643 Yellow Pages directories, the most in total. All participating schools will automatically be entered into the UK Finals, where they could win a top prize of £2,000 cash.
For every pound awarded to schools in prize money, a matching pound is given to the Woodland Trust to support its new ‘Tree For All’ campaign, which aims to help plant 12 million trees over the next five years. Funds donated by Yellow Pages are enabling thousands of schoolchildren across the UK to plant native saplings in their school grounds and to support tree planting and school visits in the Trust’s woodlands.
As additional support for the Tree For All campaign, Yellow Pages is awarding native tree saplings to the top three winning schools and to St Nicholas C of E Primary School, Littleton C of E Infant School and Shortwood Infant School for achieving 4th, 5th and 6th place in the local Yellow Woods Challenge. Michelle Man at Spelthorne Borough Council also receives tree saplings for organising the local Challenge.
Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages directories, said: “We’re delighted with the results of the Yellow Woods Challenge in Spelthorne and are proud to be helping so many young people understand the importance of caring for the environment and woodland.”
Wendy Witt, environmental projects and recycling officer at Spelthorne Borough Council, said: “This has been a fantastic competition and I thank everyone who has supported their local school and helped us protect the environment by keeping thousands of directories out of landfill.”
For further information about the Tree For All campaign, visit www.treeforall.org.uk/yell
