Pass it on – primary pupils help to write UK recycling book

Pupils at Holly Mount RC Primary School in Bury are proving their ’green’ credentials by penning a chapter of a book on recycling old electrical goods.

The Year 4 class took part in Pass It On, a storybook writing project organised by REPIC, the Bury-based not-for-profit Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycler under their ‘Responsible Recycling’ campaign.

The Holly Mount youngsters have been working alongside schools up and down the UK, from Manchester to North Lincolnshire and Edinburgh, to contribute to the book.

Now on its sixth chapter, which is being written by children in Solihull, the story book will be passed on to three other schools before Bradford Academy writes the concluding chapter for this epic adventure.

The story book follows the successful Schools Adventure Challenge, part of a long-term campaign to raise awareness about the importance of waste electrical recycling among children and their families.

The Holly Mount chapter features REPIC’s mascots R3P1C – a robot made out of end-of-life electrical products - and his battery sidekick Amp. The pupils’ story tells how R3P1C got a new nickname and became part of a whole new world.

Talat Afzal, recycling awareness officer at Bury Council, visited to school to present the pupils with special stationery to say ‘thank you’ for all their hard work.

Suzi Holly, the class teacher who led the task, said: “Children have an increasing amount of electrical products at home so it is great to get involved with campaigns such as REPIC’s to raise awareness. The children thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this and we can’t wait to read the finished book.”

Dr Philip Morton, CEO of REPIC, said: “The main aim of the campaign is to educate children on recycling issues from a young age. Children are the ambassadors of the future for recycling and are key in spreading the message to parents and carers. Our ‘Responsible Recycling’ campaigns are all about increasing consumer awareness, as we find that people generally want to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to recycling. By increasing awareness we have found there’s a natural link – if you increase awareness you increase recycling.”

Unwanted WEEE, from toasters and kettles to washing machines and tumble dryers, can be recycled at household waste recycling centres across Greater Manchester or items can be collected via Bury Council’s bulky waste collection service.

For details of recycling centres, visit www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com

To arrange a bulky waste collection, visit www.bury.gov.uk/bulkyitems.

For more information, visit http://www.responsible-recycling.co.uk/

ENDS

Issued: 9 June 2016.

Picture: Holly Mount pupils celebrate after writing a chapter in a UK-wide book to promote electrical goods recycling.

Note to editors:

REPIC is a not-for-profit company established in January 2004 by leading companies in the electrical and electronics industry to meet their producer obligations under the WEEE directive.