Schools and youth groups across York and North Yorkshire are being urged to start talking rubbish.
They’re being invited to take part in a new Community Champions programme, which has been designed to raise awareness of – and spread the message about – waste issues.
The programme has been launched by Allerton Waste Recovery Park (AWRP), which deals with ‘black bag’ waste from local homes.
AWRP’s Account Director, Colin Fletcher, said:
We deal with the waste that’s left over after you’ve done your recycling at home. Anything you throw away in your general bin comes to AWRP.
We’re offering young people a chance to see for themselves what happens to that waste, as well as getting them to think about how they could reuse and recycle items instead of throwing them away.
The Community Champions programme is free and involves three sessions, the first of which gives schools and youth groups the opportunity to visit to AWRP, near Knaresborough, where they can view waste being sorted via state-of-the-art technology.
The second stage is an outreach session, where AWRP’s education manager will visit the school or group and encourage young people to consider what they can do to change waste habits. The third stage will involve young people sharing what they have learned with others, such as their parents, in turn helping to spread the word about rubbish.
Colin added:
AWRP can deal with over 320,000 tonnes of rubbish a year from homes across York and North Yorkshire – that’s enough to fill 2,100 Olympic-sized swimming pools!
We’re keen to get young people thinking about that waste, as well as understanding what we do to turn it into energy. They’re often surprised to find their rubbish can create enough electricity every year to power the equivalent of 40,000 homes, that’s a town the size of Harrogate.
The Community Champions programme is open to schools and youth organisations, such as clubs, scouting and girlguiding, across York and North Yorkshire. Participants must be age seven (Key Stage 2) or above.
More information is available at www.allerton-waste-recovery-park.co.uk (community and education pages).
