issue 3 Hi, I’m Battery Acid Bob. See if I can get the better of Dan Can on the back page. Filmmakers Read this put green newsletter to find out how issues in to recycle RememBeR If dan can the spotlight You can

Headteacher Samantha Beavan said: “I think the video is an absolutely brilliant idea. The children have been so fired up about it because they are keen to do their bit for the environment.” Jan Janos, a teaching assistant at the school which has recently secured its silver award in the eco schools scheme, added: “The project involved the whole school. The children love doing things like this and they hope the video will help people stand up and take note of environmental issues affecting all of us. “We hope it will help persuade their parents to get involved.” The school already does a wide range of Each year in the UK School pupils put themselves in the picture for eco-friendly activities households throw away the video project including composting over 29.1 million tonnes and recycling and has of waste, that's the same Young filmmakers at Pontymoile School urged people to weight as 4.85 million do their bit for the environment by making a video recently opened an allotment on its male African Elephants! about green issues. Did grounds. you Around 140 pupils at the school spent a week kn ow? making a short film using video footage, photographs, artwork and animation. Their story describes how aliens landed near their school and investigated green issues before flying off again. Usefu l websites These include recycling, rubbish and climate change. The video, which also features an eco song and environ - www..gov.uk/waste mental messages from pupils, is being sold to raise funds www.greenconsumerguide.com for the school. www.dothegreenthing.com Torfaen schools secure top ec o awards

Environmentally friendly pupils in Torfaen have secured top awards through the Eco-Schools Scheme. Primary School has become the first school in Torfaen to achieve the coveted Eco-Schools platinum award and only the seventh in . The Platinum award is the highest possible achievement within the Eco-Schools programme and has taken the school ten years of hard work to achieve. Meanwhile, pupils at St David’s Primary School in Pupils from St David's School show off their new flag (pictured) have been awarded the Green Flag in the same scheme. award was within their grasp. News that they could claim the flag, which is the To secure the awards, children from both schools award below platinum, came as a surprise to staff carried out a range of ‘green’ tasks like recycling, because they originally thought that only the silver composting and monitoring energy use. The Eco-Schools programme encourages youngsters to Communities help the environment. Clean Up During Dan Can visits … Litter Week

Penygarn School

Volunteers from Schools and groups in Torfaen showed their support for the Heads of the Valley Spring Clean by getting their hands dirty. Environment Minister Torfaen Council in partnership with Jane Davidson Keep Wales Tidy removed flytipped waste from the Elgam Ravine in . Some 80 people were involved in the clean up, and between them they collected 4.5 tonnes of waste and 80 bags of litter. The Garnsychan Partnership helped Disposable nappies take 500 years local children to make bird boxes from reclaimed wood, Di to decompose d yo and sculptures from the material they collected u k now during the clean up. ? Telephone directories make supe r sculptures

Here are some fab examples of sculptures schoolchildren made using old copies of Yellow Pages directories. Pupils from 30 schools in Torfaen collected 5.4 tonnes of old directories. The youngsters took part in the Yellow Woods Challenge – a simple, educational and fun environmental campaign run by Yellow Pages, working with the Woodland Trust and Torfaen Council. For every pound Yellow Pages awards to schools for recycling old directories, they give a matching pound to the Woodland Trust. The money will be used to support the charity’s ‘Tree for All’ campaign which aims to plant 12 Pupils from Junior School with their Spongebob Squarepants million trees by 2009. creation The entries for the sculpture competition are currently being judged and schools that collected the highest number of old directories per pupil will be awarded a share of £700 cash prizes from Yellow Pages. Winners will be announced in the next edition of the Trash Times. RaP competition winners A bright idea from Llanyravon Primary School Thanks for sending in all your brilliant entries for our Dan Can Rap Competition. It was hard to pick a winner but Laura Honeybun from w? kno Pontymoile Primary School edged it with her entry, Dan, Dan the Recycling you Can. She even went to the trouble of recording her rap on tape and added Did some background music. Well done to Laura, who not only wins a Rolypig 15 million mobile phones compost bin for her school and a bag of goodies, but also gets the chance to are upgraded in the UK appear with Dan Can in a video of her rap. Look out for her winning entry in each year, laid from the education section of our website, www.torfaen.gov.uk/waste. end-to-end they would Runners up were Lewis Evans, Sam Rogers and Liam Gough from School; reach from John O'Groats Shannon Bridges from Hillside Primary School in Blaenavon and Rhys Bates to Lands End from Hollybush School in Cwmbran. Turn over for our latest competition. wher e’ s Dan? competition

Have a look at the photographs below and guess where Inn, Pontypool, NP4 OLS. Correct entries will be entered Dan Can is. He has been to six places in Torfaen and two into a prize draw. Top green-theme prizes are up for other locations. Simply fill in the boxes with your grabs including great outdoor games. The closing date answers and details and send to: for the competition is August 30. Entry forms can also Ben Payne, Communications Officer, OSD Department, be found in the education section of our website, Central Depot, South Pontypool Industrial Estate, New www.torfaen.gov.uk/waste 1 2 Pupil’s Name ...... Age ...... School ...... 1...... 2...... 3...... 3 4 5 6 4...... 5...... 6...... 7...... 8...... 8 Di 7 d yo u kn ow? The energy saved by recycling 1 aluminium drink can is enough to run a television for three hours

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