Tree-mendous recycling achievement by schools

February 15, 2006

Newbuildings Primary School is celebrating after scooping the ‘Gold Oak’ title and top prize of £400 in the Derry Yellow Woods Challenge – the schools environmental competition run by Yellow Pages, working with the Woodland Trust and Derry City Council.

Winners from the Yellow Woods Challenge

Youngsters from Newbuildings Primary School collected 269 old Yellow Pages directories for recycling, achieving the best recycling rate of 1.22 per pupil in the Derry area. They have been rewarded for their efforts with a cheque for £300, the Gold Oak certificate and a pack of native tree saplings to plant in the school grounds. The school also won a bonus prize of £100 for collecting the most directories in total.

As runners-up in the local competition, Belmont House School won £200 and the Silver Birch certificate. St Mary’s Primary School, Altinure came in third, receiving £100 and the Bronze Beech certificate.

All participating schools will now join around 1,800 others in the Yellow Woods Challenge 2006 UK Finals, where schools can win cash prizes of up to £2,000.

For every pound awarded to schools, Yellow Pages gives a matching pound to the Woodland Trust’s ‘Tree For All’ campaign, which aims to plant a tree for every child in the UK. In support of this, native tree saplings have been awarded to the top three winning schools and to Cumber Claudy Primary School, Model Primary School and Carnhill Nursery School for achieving 4th, 5th and 6th place in the local Yellow Woods Challenge.

Mrs Mary Sinnamon, principle at Carnhill Nursery School, said: “The pupils’ response to the Yellow Woods Challenge has been fantastic. We are hoping to plant our native tree saplings in our school garden area.”

Julie Hannaway, Waste minimisation and Recycling Officer with Derry City Council, said: “I would like to thank all the schoolchildren, teachers and communities that took on the Yellow Woods Challenge and made it such a success. Sixtenn schools took part and collected a total of 1,910 old Yellow Pages directories which have been recycled into egg boxes by Huhtamaki Paper Reprocessors in Lurgan.”

Richard Duggleby, head of external relations with Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages, said: “This is a tremendous achievement by schools in the Derry area and shows how interested children are in recycling and looking after the environment. We couldn’t run the Challenge without the local authority and recycling company and thank them for their continued support and commitment.”

For further information about the Yellow Woods Challenge and the Tree For All campaign, visit: www.yellow-woods.co.uk

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact the Marketing and Communications Section, Derry City Council on 028 71376504 or call Kat Gillow, Citigate SMARTS on 028 9039 5528.

Notes to editors

Yellow Woods Challenge

The Yellow Woods Challenge is run by Yellow Pages, working with the Woodland Trust and local authorities across the UK. Kirk, the campaign mascot, is a cartoon characterisation of a woodland creature - he is a 'minibeast' that recycles leaf litter.

The Yellow Woods Challenge 2006 aims to involve 90 local authorities, 1,800 schools and 350,000 schoolchildren. The campaign aims to recycle old Yellow Pages directories and save landfill; educate children about the environment and support the Woodland Trust's ‘Tree For All’ tree planting campaign.

Schools collecting the most Yellow Pages directories per pupil win cash prizes from a total UK prize fund of £75,000. Locally, prizes worth £700 will be shared by schools in each participating local authority area. For every pound given to schools in cash prizes, a pound will be given to the Woodland Trust. The top six schools in an area will win native tree saplings to plant in their school ground. For further details, visit: www.yellow-woods.co.uk, email: yellow.woods@yellgroup.com or call 0118 950 6999.

Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust: The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 300,000 members and supporters. The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s understanding and enjoyment of woodland. Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). Access to its sites is free. Further news can be found at www.woodland-trust.org.uk/yell

The Woodland Trust's ‘Tree For All’ campaign grew from a simple vision - that every child should have the chance to plant trees. The most ambitious children's tree-planting project ever launched in the UK, it will help plant 12 million trees giving one million children the chance to make a positive difference.

For media enquiries contact: Ioan Reed-Aspley, corporate, PR & communications officer on 01476 581112, email ioanreedaspley@woodland-trust.org.uk or the Woodland Trust Press Office on 01476 581121, e-mail media@woodland-trust.org.uk

For additional information contact:

Press Office