Fochriw Primary pupils Chianty Williams, Grace Jones and Brandon Evans are pictured with David Harding, Mrs Lisa Jones, Cllr David Carter, Bella the Battery and Cllr David Poole
Pupils from Fochriw Primary School were the overall winners of the 2014 School Battery Recycling Awards.
The battery recycling initiative, now in its third year, is delivered by Caerphilly County Borough Council in partnership with the European Recycling Platform (ERP).
The scheme encourages pupils to take household batteries into school for recycling rather than being sent to landfill sites. Schools across the county borough competed to see who could recycle the most batteries per pupil, with prizes being awarded to the top performing schools.
Fochriw pupils short-circuited the competition to win the top prize – collecting an impressive 160kg of household batteries in order for them to be recycled. Overall, a total of 1,843kg of batteries were collected, involving over 24,000 pupils across 76 schools.
This year’s awards were presented by Cllr David Carter, Mayor of Caerphilly county borough, during a special ceremony at Penallta House on Wednesday 2nd July to celebrate the achievements of pupils, as well as their positive impact on the environment.
Special guests Cllr. David Poole, Cabinet Member for Community & Leisure Services, and David Harding, Business Development Manager for the European Recycling Platform attended the awards and were extremely impressed with the schools’ outstanding efforts and achievements. In addition a rather special surprise guest, ‘Bella the Battery’, came along to entertain the pupils.
Cllr. David Carter, Mayor of Caerphilly county borough said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to present awards to so many bright young sparks. The commitment to recycling is tremendous and I’m pleased to see so many pupils engaged in making a difference to the environment. I’d like to encourage all schools to continue to support this brilliant initiative next year and wish them all the very best of luck in the competition.”
This year’s winners and runners up were:
Small School Category
- 1st Fochriw Primary
- 2nd Deri Primary
- 3rd Cwm Glas Infants
Medium School Category
- 1st Crumlin High Level Primary
- 2nd Maesycwmmer Primary
- 3rd Glyn-gaer Primary
Large School Category
- 1st St Helen’s Catholic Primary
- 2nd Cefn Fforest Primary
- 3rd Ty Sign Primary
