British Glass promotes glass recycling to schools

Glass sector trade association, British Glass and its member companies have teamed up with the National Schools Partnership to teach school children about glass recycling.

The education programme aims to help children become ‘Glass Guardians’. And, Sheffield-based British Glass is asking local authority recycling officers interested in its campaign, to get in touch.

Produced especially for 7-11 year olds, the initiative encourages children to champion the importance of recycling all glass bottles and jars whilst educating them about how glass is 100% recyclable – and can be re-melted indefinitely with no loss of quality, according to British Glass.

Brook Hayes, communications manager at British Glass said: “School children are our future and we want them to understand that every single glass jar and bottle that gets recycled counts.

“At present, around one third of the bottles and jars we use never get the chance to be made into new glass – because people don’t always recycle. By linking with the National Schools Partnership we are reaching out to the next generation and encouraging them to champion the importance of recycling to protect their planet.”

And, Ms Hayes added: “We encourage any recycling officers who are interested in Glass Guardians, and would like to find out how they can support the project to get in touch with British Glass. We welcome involvement from local authorities as school children in their area work towards becoming Glass Guardians.”

The National Schools Partnership is an agency with a network of 80,000 teachers.

Prizes

Glass pack — The education work includes printed information for children

Glass Guardians provides teachers with a full set of cross-curricular materials including an engaging video, activity sheets and teacher’s notes. A competition asking the children to enter their creative ideas to get people recycling more glass will also run – with prizes of tablets for children and equipment vouchers for schools up for grab, British Glass said.

All of the activity is designed to help schools with their Eco School Awards – an award for excellence in environmental action and learning.

Glass manufacturer, Ardagh Group and UK recycling company, Viridor – both British Glass members – have supported the project by providing footage for the Glass Guardians video.

Viridor

Steven Weaver, head of recycling assets (Glass) at Viridor, said: “We are delighted to help get children on board with recycling: glass should never be wasted – with its endless recycling opportunities, glass is a real recycling superhero. At Viridor we work hard to make sure as much glass as possible can be made into new bottles and jars and we need every household to join in to make that possible.”

Ardagh Group

Sharon Todd, head of marketing for Glass Europe at Ardagh Group said: “We are proud to support this initiative for educating the next generation of consumers. Glass packaging is infinitely recyclable, which means it has endless lives, so the industry must ensure a steady stream of used glass comes back into the system for re-melt. Like all glass packaging manufacturers we are constantly trying to maximise the use of recycled glass to make new bottles and jars in order to reduce CO2 emissions. The current recycling rate of nearly 70% is good, but we can all use even more! ”

The Glass Guardians resources were produced with support from the Friends of Glass community.