Winners named in schools’ electrical recycling competition

The winners have been announced in a competition to see which Shropshire schools could collect the most waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) for recycling.

The competition – organised by Veolia Environmental Services in partnership with Shropshire Council – was launched in 2012 to encourage children to recycle broken or unwanted electrical items at school, instead of throwing them away.

Over 6,700 children from 31 schools took part in the competition by recycling items such as toasters, hairdryers and computer equipment.  In total, nearly 30,000kg of unwanted electrical items have been collected.

The winner of the competition – the school that collected the most WEEE per pupil – is Hope C of E Primary School, Minsterley, who collected a staggering 2,700.5 kg of electrical items, or 96.446kg of electrical item per pupil.  The school wins a £500 prize which has been donated by Veolia Environmental Services.

In second place were Corvedale Primary School, who win £200, and in third place were Myddle C of E Primary School, who win £100, also donated by Veolia Environmental Services.

Clement Gaubert, Veolia Environmental Services’ WEEE Scheme Manager, said:

“We are delighted to have worked with Shropshire Council on this initiative.  We believe the competition has been a great success, and has helped raise awareness among the young people about the benefits of recycling their electrical waste.”

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for recycling, said:

“Congratulations to our winners on a fantastic achievement, and well done and thank you to all the schools and pupils who took part in this competition.  It’s brilliant to see the young people of Shropshire getting involved in positive action on recycling, and I hope that by doing this project we have raised awareness of the need to reuse and recycle old electrical items, as well as raising some funds for the winning schools.”

The competition is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of recycling waste electrical items among young people, and will help precious metals to be recovered and not end up in landfill.

Shropshire residents can dispose of their electrical items at their local household recycling centres which are located in Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Craven Arms, Oswestry and Whitchurch.

Alternatively, there are 19 waste electrical bring banks located across the county.  To find out where these are located, visit http://new.shropshire.gov.uk/recycling-and-rubbish/what-can-i-recycle-where/