Search to find new junior recycling champions begins

As a new academic year begins, so does the hunt for Cheshire East’s next junior recycling champions.

Every year, schools in Cheshire East nominate a selection of fellow pupils as junior recycling officers. A junior recycling officer (JRO) encourages the ‘3 Rs’; reduce, reuse and recycle, within their school and community.

The JROs do this, with guidance from Ansa’s waste education officer, by preparing and delivering recycling-themed assemblies, running competitions and setting up recycling schemes within their school.

All primary and special schools are invited to join this scheme, which is run by Cheshire East Council’s wholly-owned arms-length company, Ansa.

At the end of the academic year, the JROs are invited to attend a ceremony where they give a short presentation on the work they have done to help boost recycling in their schools. A team of judges then choose the winners. This year, the event was held at Reaseheath Hall, in Nantwich.

At July’s event, Knutsford’s St Vincent’s Catholic Primary pupils Eli Winter-Roach and Madalein Ford became Cheshire East’s junior recycling officers of the year.

Madalein and Eli impressed with their presentation, which highlighted many of the recycling initiatives they led throughout the school year. Highlights included their recycling fashion show and their design of a flower garden for RHS Tatton – with hedgehogs made from recycled bottles. 

Councillor Don Stockton, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for regeneration, said: “Engaging with young people at an early stage on the importance of recycling and the benefits it brings to our communities is so important today.

“Giving young people the responsibility of sharing with their peers the experience of what they have learned is the best way of spreading that message as widely as possible.

“The children who take on roles as junior recycling officers are a great credit to themselves, their schools and their communities.”

Councillor Steven Hogben, a member of the Ansa Board, who was also a judge at the event, said: “I enjoyed meeting the junior recycling officers and was very impressed with the work that they have done in their school to educate their fellow pupils about recycling.”

The hunt for the 2018 junior recycling officer of the year has already begun with Ansa’s waste education officer visiting interested schools.

One of the first competitions available to the potential JROs is to design a recycling-based card that will be used as Ansa’s staff Christmas card.

For more information about the junior recycling officer scheme, visit www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/recycling and search for junior recycling.