Schools across the county are invited to take part in a textile recycling competition to transform textiles into treasure. The challenge is to collect the highest amount of textiles per child in each school.

The top performing school will be awarded £600 per tonne of textiles collected and every participating school will receive £300 for each tonne.

To enter, a school must register with its local council's recycling officer and have at least one collection during the school term. The competition will run from now until the end of June 2010 and is open to any school in the area from preschool through to secondary or upper schools.

Accepted textiles include:

• Clean clothes
• Sheets and towels
• Paired shoes
• Belts and handbags
• Curtains
• Fabric and blankets
• Soft toys

The textiles recycling scheme is a very easy way for schools and pupils to contribute to positive environmental initiatives while fundraising for the school at the same time. It is also a fun and interactive way to help teach pupils the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling waste.

For more information on this excellent scheme and contact details for your local council, see the Transform Textiles into Treasure [444kb] (opens in a new window) leaflet.

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