St Columba’s Catholic Primary School in Birmingham was named the winner of the The Salvation Army’s county-wide competition to encourage recycling in schools as part of its ‘Recycle with Michael’ initiative, diverting textiles away from landfill.
1,103 pupils from 4 schools in Birmingham took part in the initiative, collectively donating 0.88 tonnes of unwanted clothes and shoes – the eqivalent weight of two grand pianos.
But it was St Columba’s Catholic Primary School which won the competition, with 0.25 tonnes being collected by its pupils – the largest donation of goods (calculated as the highest ratio of weight to pupils) of all the schools that took part across the region.
On Tuesday 7th May, the school received a special visitor to present the trophy and certificate. The scheme’s very own mascot Michael turned up to meet with pupils and hand the award to St Columba’s Executive Prinicpal Mrs Nash.
Designed specifically for primary school-aged children, the programme is an important way for schools to generate much-needed funds as well as supporting The Salvation Army’s work in helping vulnerable people from communities across the UK.
Recycle with Michael aims to educate young people about the importance of recycling in a fun and engaging way. The programme is supported by free downloadable school materials such as presentations, posters and lesson plans which teach environmental and charitable messages.
Kirk Bradley, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd, commented: “We’re delighted to name the pupils from Birmingham’s St Columba’s Catholic Primary School our ‘Recycle with Michael’ champions… Our van was full to the brim on collection day thanks to all the donations. In fact, participation in the competition across the whole county has been amazing. We hope this is the start of a determined drive to give unwanted items a new lease of life.”
