Youthful Recycling Pioneers

The pupils of Hebden Royd C of E School in Hebden Bridge are showing the grown-ups the way forward when it comes to recycling.

From the Nursery years, right through to Year 6, they have been collecting plastic bottle tops and Hebden Bridge-based firm, British Recycled Products, recently exchanged these for one of their maintenance-free Oakworth bench of the same weight.

The pupils at this particular school have always shown massive interest in protecting the environment in one way or another and had collected 80 kilograms of milk bottle tops that, although they are made of a very recyclable type of plastic, the council's waste contractor will not process. While their scrap value contributes only a small part of the cost of the bench, the company recognised the school's efforts by taking the highly unusual step of making a straight weight-for-weight swap.

Hebden Royd Head Teacher, Gretl Young, said "We have thouroughly enjoyed the challenge set by British Recycled Products. The whole school community has worked so hard to collect these tops. We've been amazed by the number we would have thrown away. Recycling needs to be adopted as part of our way of life."