Pupils and teachers commended

The top performing schools in the Cash for Clobber recycling initiative were Loughbrickland Pre-School, Moyallon PS and Fair Hill Primary School.

Pupils from Loughbrickland Pre-School collected 21.7kg of textiles per pupil and won the top prize of £300, with second place and £200 going to Moyallon PS and third place and £100 cash awarded to pupils at Fair Hill.

Each school which participated in the Cash for Clobber recycling initiative managed to raise £2,400 for their school fund and £260 for the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children.

Meanwhile, the top performing schools in the Yellow Pages recycling initiative were Scarva PS, St John’s PS (Gilford) and Abercorn PS, Banbridge.

First place and a cash prize of £250 went to pupils from Scarva PS who recycled an impressive eight directories per pupil.

Second and third places went to St John’s PS and Abercorn PS where pupils were presented with a cash prize of £150 and £100 respectively.

Council chairman, Councillor Jim McElroy, who presented the prizes, commended the young people on the high level of commitment shown.

He said, “A total of 27 schools took part in the recycling competitions. This high level of participation clearly demonstrates how committed our young people are to protecting the environment.

“I am very proud of their collective efforts and achievements. Some 5,000kgs of textiles were collected and 3,600kgs of old Yellow Pages directories were recycled. Congratulations and well done to everyone.”