Trees planted to celebrate schools recycling in Rugby - 1 February 2005
Youngsters at Abbots Farm Infant School have won £400 for their school by collecting Yellow Pages directories in a recycling competition.Over six weeks during October and November, 6,477 pupils at 25 schools across Rugby took on the Yellow Woods Challenge - the simple, educational and fun schools environmental campaign run by Yellow Pages and the Woodland Trust working with Rugby Borough Council and Rokeby Schools Recycling. The schools have been collecting old Yellow Pages directories for recycling and a total of 15.5 tonnes will now be recycled into packaging, boxes and cardboard inserts by Leicester Paper Processors Ltd.
Abbots Farm Infant School is celebrating its success in winning the local ‘Gold Oak’ title and the top prize money of £300 for collecting 8.6 directories per pupil. Bawnmore Infant School receives this year’s ‘Silver Birch’, winning £200, and English Martyrs Catholic Primary School receives the ‘Bronze Beech’ title and £100. Abbots Farm Infant School also wins £100 cash for collecting the most Yellow Pages directories in total, almost 1,300. 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 Our Lady's RC Primary School, Binley Woods Primary School and Abbots Farm Junior School for achieving 4th, 5th and 6th places in the local Yellow Woods Challenge.
Carolyn Robbins, portfolio holder for the environment at Rugby 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.”
Bill Lewis, recycling organiser for Rokeby Schools Joint Recycling Initiative, said: “Rugby schools have once again pulled out all the stops for a very successful Yellow Woods Challenge. Over the last four years they have collected more than 33,400 Yellow Pages with a total weight of over 56 tonnes. What a magnificent achievement.”
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 Rugby and are proud to be helping so many young people understand the importance of caring for the environment and woodland.”
For further information about the Tree For All campaign, visit www.treeforall.org.uk/yell
