Vale pupils collect nearly a million Christmas cards for
recycling! - 19/01/07
Nearly a million Christmas cards have been saved from landfill
thanks to a Vale of Glamorgan schools' competition.
Some 912,913 cards, equivalent in weight to approximately 17.5
tonnes, were collected by pupils from 32 schools that took part in
the competition, organised by the Vale Council.
Pendoylan Church in Wales were the overall winners of the
primary school category of the contest, collecting a massive 67,311
cards, with one pupil alone, Rhys Morgan, bringing in 8,694 cards.
St Richard Gwyn won the secondary school category collecting
44,288. Both schools will receive a prize of £200.
Headteacher at Pendoylan Mrs Lyn Murray said: “The response has
been wonderful and we would like to thank all of the children,
their families and the local community for helping us to win the
competition. It was also a great way of spreading the recycling
message.”
Twelve-year-old Josh Hurley, of Ashgrove School in Penarth, won
the individual primary school prize by collecting 11,052 cards.
Carrianne Rogers, aged 11, of Bryn Hafren (Barry) won the
individual secondary school prize with 5,994 cards. Each will
receive an IPod for their efforts.
Josh, who was thrilled to win, said: ‘I’d like to thank everyone
for bringing in Christmas cards. I really enjoyed collecting them
and helping towards saving the trees. I’m really excited that I won
the IPod. Please can we do this again next year.”
The number of prizes on offer was increased by the Vale Council
in recognition of the tremendous support shown by schools and their
pupils. The second and third placed schools have won £100 and £50
respectively and the top four individual winners will receive £30
worth of vouchers.
Cabinet Member for Visible Services Cllr Rob Curtis explained:
“We were absolutely thrilled by the response to the competition.
The schools really helped to push the recycling message and, as the
results show, many pupils and their families went to extreme
lengths to collect such huge amounts of cards. We would like to
thank the schools and everyone in the community for supporting this
initiative and significantly reducing the amount of waste ending up
in landfill.”
All cards collected for recycling will help the Woodland Trust,
a national conservation charity, to plant trees.
For further details about recycling, please contact Visible
Services on 029 2067 3000, e-mail visible@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
or visit www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Card Facts & Figures
• 1 billion cards are sent in the UK each year
• 1633 tonnes (approx 80 million) cards were recycled last
year
• For every tonne of cards recycled 17 trees are saved.
• The scheme, organised by the Woodland Trust, helped to raise
£100,000 pounds in 2006. This will help secure the future of 10,000
acres of woodland.