Caerphilly Schools Batteries Recycling Initiative

A POSITIVE RESPONSE TO BATTERIES RECYCLING: SCHOOLS COLLECT 1.255 TONNES!

In December 2011, Caerphilly County Borough Council launched a Schools Battery Recycling Initiative at Primary School. The initiative was created to encourage pupils, staff and parents to prevent thousands of used batteries from going to landfill.

COMMUNICATIONS An email was sent to all schools with information on the initiative and an invitation to participate. A press release was then issued to the local media. The project was also advertised on the council website, posters were sent to schools and, when delivering talks in assemblies on recycling, Cath Cuss (Public Services) also spoke to the pupils about battery recycling.

COLLECTIONS In total, 45 schools took part in the scheme, involving almost 15,000 pupils. Over the spring and summer terms 2012, 1,255 kg of batteries was collected for recycling, the equivalent of over 50,000 standard AA batteries. ERP provided the battery collection boxes and funded GC Enterprises — at the council’s request — to collect and weigh the batteries from each school in June 2012. The total amount of batteries collected at each school was then divided by the number of pupils.

AWARDS CEREMONY On Friday 13th July, a special awards ceremony was held at Penallta House Council Offices in for the six schools that collected the most batteries. The six winning schools are shown overleaf.

- 2013 UPDATE -

In 2013, the schools battery recycling scheme went from strength to strength. The 2013 competition involved 59 schools, and an impressive 18,900 pupils collected a total of 1.511 tonnes of batteries for recycling. ERP supplied the prizes which were awarded to the winners and runners up at a special ceremony in Penallta House:

Small Schools (up to 140 pupils) Medium Schools (141-280 pupils) Large Schools (281 & more pupils) 1st Prize: 1st Prize: 1st Prize: Fochriw Primary Crumlin High Level Primary Ysgol y Castell Runner Up : Deri Primary Runner Up : Llanfabon Infants Runner Up : Primary

High quality, cost effective compliance. www.erp-recycling.co.uk Councillor Gaynor Oliver, Mayor of Caerphilly County Borough Council, presented the prizes to pupils from the following schools in July 2012:

Cwmcarn Primary School Llanfabon Infants School

Fochriw Primary School Deri Primary School

Crumlin High Level Primary School Cwm Glas Infants School

RECYCLING IN CAERPHILLY PARTNERS Caerphilly County Borough Council has been at the forefront of battery recycling for several years and provides battery containers for the public at its six household recycling/civic amenity sites. Schools across Caerphilly are all doing their bit to help the environment. In addition to the battery recycling scheme, they also recycle paper, food and are part of the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.

High quality, cost effective compliance. www.erp-recycling.co.uk