Northumberland schools with a recycling collection from Northumberland County Council can recycle the following materials: -

• All plastic bottles- please rinse and remove lids.
• Newspapers, junk mail, magazines, catalogues, envelopes, writing and drawing paper.
• Card and cardboard- please flatten and tear larger cardboard into smaller sections to save space and to avoid materials getting jammed in your recycling bins. 
• Clean food and drinks cans.
• Empty aerosol cans.
• Biscuit and sweet tins- plenty to be found in school staff rooms.

• Please avoid putting paper towels, tissues and shredded paper into your recycling bins.
• Please avoid putting plastic wrappings, food waste, crisp packets and plastic tubs into your recycling bins.

• Please click here or on the picture icon for a list of what to put in your recycling bin at school. This can be printed out for notice boards or could be printed onto stickers or laminated for recycling bins both inside and outside.
• This message matches the materials that Northumberland householders can recycle via their kerbside recycling bins.
• These are Northumberland County Council and SITA UK Ltd target materials for recycling in Northumberland.

• We only collect the things which CAN actually be recycled by the reprocessors.
• We maintain a high quality product with minimum contamination.
• The products that we collect are easy to clean by any resident.

It is possible that the target materials for Northumberland may change in the future.

Schools that have not yet had any classroom recycling containers for paper and other target materials (see above for target materials) can request to be added to a waiting list for free containers (budget permitting).

Please contact Lorna.Tingey@northumberland.gov.uk

for further information.

What can be recycled in the containers provided by Northumberland County Council?

The classroom / office recycling containers that Northumberland County Council have provided and continue to provide to schools are for paper recycling and also other target materials in the NCC kerbside collection scheme only and should not be used for the recycling of other materials in schools such as mobile phones and bottle tops.

If you wish to recycle other materials such as bottle tops, mobile phones and textiles in school, these items should be collected in different collection containers which are clearly labelled.

• Please see our School Recycling Directory for ideas.

What are the containers like and why was this design chosen?

The containers provided are blue, with a recycling logo printed on the side and  in recent years have been of an open top design. There are 2 sizes to choose from, these are 27 litre and 39 litre capacity containers.

There were a number of reasons for the choice of these containers for schools, including:

• To try and match the recycling message at home and also at school where possible, helping to promote the recycling of NCC target materials- link to above.
• Blue containers were chosen to match our wider publicity materials, such as recycling leaflets for Northumberland householders.
• Blue wheeled bins for recycling are not used in all cases across Northumberland, but are used in more cases than not for householders.
• The open top design was chosen as an ‘easier to manage’ design for children helping to collect target recyclables from around school, with no lids to trap finger and are also easier to view contamination with non-target materials.

It is really important to have a whole-school approach to recycling in school

Keeping people informed is probably the most important part of this- Make sure everyone knows what can be recycled at school and why it is important to recycle. This could be done in a variety of ways, for example, through assemblies, staff meetings and school council / eco-committee meetings and notice boards.

It is very important to tell people why we need to recycle:

Recycling-

• Saves money in school budgets!
• Helps the environment
• Reduces Co2
• Saves resources
• Saves energy

• Why not use posters like 'Recycling Transforms Things' around school to highlight the reasons why recycling is important?
• Please click here to go to our Posters and Resources webpage.

Pull together ideas from the whole-school community: This includes, cleaners, caretakers, kitchen staff, teachers, office staff, school bursar, school governors, children, the eco-committee / school council.

Open up the topic of recycling for discussion:

What are the problems with recycling at the moment? ok, so there are problems,

so what are the possible solutions? Lets make this work!

Try discussion sessions or ideas boxes- use the best practice tips on this page.

Recycling rewards / competitions:

Perhaps you could introduce some sort of recycling rewards scheme or competition in your school to motivate staff and children and to make recycling more exciting.

Find out more from Recycle Now on how to achieve a whole-school approach

Arrange a recycling and / or a general rubbish collection from school:

If you would like to arrange a recycling collection from school by Northumberland County Council please contact your Area Waste Management Officer to discuss what the current rubbish / recycling collection charges are for your area, as well as other specific collection arrangements for your school.

• West Area: Kevin Ferrol
• North Area: Paul Lowes
• South East Area: Robby Barkley
• Please call 0845 600 6400 and ask to be put through to your Area Waste Management Officer

Queries about your current collection arrangements?

If you have queries about your current Northumberland County Council recycling and / or rubbish collection, please also contact your local Area Waste Management Officer to discuss.

Your recycling bins:

Items in your recycling bins are taken to a Materials Recycling Facility at West Sleekburn, Northumberland for sorting before being sent further afield to be made into new products.

• Please click here to find out more.

Your general rubbish bins:

General waste is taken to an Energy from Waste Plant to be burnt to produce electricity.

• Please click here to find out more.

Why not try our School Recycling Directory for ideas?

Here you will find information on recycling materials such as textiles, stamps, mobile phones and classroom furniture, as well as how to dispose of hazardous waste in safe way and much more.

• Please click here to go to the Directory.

Furniture and classroom equipment

Did you know about the Waste Resources Action Programme? (Warp-it)

Need furniture or other items in school? OR need to dispose of furniture or other items? Warp-it allows you to do this.

• Click here to find out more on the School Recycling Directory and look under the heading Furniture.

• The quantity of waste that is being created
• The types of waste being produced in school? and then look at whether some of these waste items-
• Could be prevented or reduced?
• Which items could be recycled?
• Which items could be composted?
• Which items should be disposed of in the general rubbish bins?
• Which items need to be disposed of more carefully and are potentially hazardous?
• Which items have been effected by recent regulations and can no longer be legally disposed of in the general waste stream?

Planning a waste audit:

Waste audit lesson plans and information from Recycle Now Schools:

• Please click here for information on planning a school waste audit from Recycle Now
• How much does your school waste?

Research document on waste management in schools:

• Link to research by Wrap on the nature and scale of waste produced by schools in England

The best way to support the recycling at home message is to collect the same materials for recycling in school as those that can be collected in the kerbside recycling collection for Northumberland householders. If both collection schemes mirror each other this will give a much stronger and clearer message for everyone, as the schemes will compliment each other. The easiest way to do this is to arrange a school recycling collection from Northumberland County Council.

• Please click here for more information
• Recycling list for Northumberland householders and schools
• Recycling at home survey coming soon

• Please click here for posters and resources on recycling, composting and litter campaigns.

Recycle Now Schools offer excellent guidance and resources to help schools to set up effective and sustainable recycling schemes.

• Please click here for more.

Please join us in the challenge

To find out what the challenge is all about, including the closing date for the first challenge and how to take part, please click here.

There are many activities to choose from in the challenge, some very easy and some that are more challenging- Schools can choose whichever activities they wish, and do as many, or as few as they like.

Here are a few examples of easy points to pick up from the listed activities on the webpage:

• Design a poster (10 points)
• Name your local recycling vehicle (3 points)
• Pledge to recycle (Score up to 8 points)
• Set up and start using a compost bin (15 points)
• Review a County Council waste webpage/s (Score up to 15 points)
• Tell us what grade your school would be for litter- A, B, C or D (Score up to 14 points)
• Draw a picture of your local recycling vehicle and crew (5 points)
• Pledge to support the Love Northumberland Campaign- www.northumberland.gov.uk/love (10 points)