Earlier this month, a KS2 class in Burton-upon-Trent was treated to an interactive aluminium recycling workshop, after one pupil won a creative national design competition organised by Alupro.
Part of the organisation’s ‘Masters of Infinity’ initiative, which encourages schools to integrate recycling into the curriculum, the competition invited pupils to get creative by designing artwork for a school recycling bin. Elsie Burgess (8) from Thomas Russell Junior School took home first prize for her design, which the judges said brought passion and creativity to the challenge of increasing recycling rates.
While her design will be emblazoned on a recycling bin and used by her school, Elsie and her classmates were also treated to a hands on recycling workshop with social enterprise Casting Innovations.
Demonstrating the aluminium recycling process first hand in a safe and controlled environment, the workshop melts down drink cans collected by the pupils and casts them into moulds. Each pupil took home a recycled keyring to remind them about the importance of recycling and the circularity of aluminium packaging.
Claire Boot, education officer at Alupro, commented: ‘Educating the next generation is an important part of our work and we are delighted to see the continued impact of the Masters of Infinity programme. We were so impressed with this year’s entries, but Elsie’s design really stood out.’
Mrs Kerr-Delworth, teacher at Thomas Russell Junior School, added: ‘I came across the Masters of Infinity resources when I was looking for a project for my Climate Changers – an inspirational bunch of year 6 pupils who are passionate about their role in looking after our planet – and was immediately drawn to it.
‘The resources are brilliant as they have child friendly graphics and a theme – beat LandPhil – but the language and facts behind this don’t talk down to children and are incredibly informative and engaging. The Climate Changers led an assembly to introduce the rest of the school to the resources and the competition but next time we will be incorporating the work into our PSHE curriculum time to really do it justice. What a find!’
