Cash prize for Harlow schools which love their clothes

SCHOOL children across Essex have raised over £3,700 for their schools by donating over nine tonnes of old clothes to be recycled.

The competition, run by Bag2School in partnership with Recycle for Essex, saw 37 schools take part with the winning school, Rickling C of E Primary School collecting the equivalent of 2.57 kg of clothes per pupil.

To celebrate this big achievement, the school has won a free upcycling session run by local artist Connie Flynn.

During the session pupils from learned how old fabric and clothing could be used to make new items.

After taking some time to look at examples of upcycled fabric put together by Connie, the pupils had a go at using cut up old clothes to put together their own patchwork artwork.

Every household in Essex throws away the equivalent of 36 woolly jumpers each year, but recycling old clothes and textiles is becoming easier.

Many districts and boroughs in Essex offer kerbside collections, all recycling centres accept textiles, along with the many textile banks located all around the county.

All clean clothing and textiles can be recycled, even items that are ripped or have holes in.

Councillor Simon Walsh, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Waste offered his congratulations to schools taking part in the competition, saying: “The schools recycling competition has been a fun new way to encourage pupils and parents to learn about the value of recycling their clothes.

“I would like to congratulate Rickling School, and all the schools who took part, for encouraging young people in Essex to become a new generation of recyclers”.

To find out more visit recycleforessex.com

ENDS