Young recycling champions rewarded

PUPILS at a Liverpool primary School are being rewarded for their hard work spreading the message about the importance of recycling. Children at Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School, in Everton, have been working with the City Council's recycling team to drive up the rate at their School, and also in the local community. Each class has a reusable bag for its recyclable waste which has been so successful it has meant them having to get more Eurobins to take the rubbish, ran their own recycle week in June and are looking at options to reduce non recyclable waste in the School.

Now, to mark National Recycling Week, they are being presented with a School Recycling Champion certificate to honour their achievements.  The City has a target of recycling 55% of household waste by 2020; but it is currently on around 34%. There is a huge variance in rates across Liverpool, with some wards achieving over 50% but others as low as 11%. Around 21,000 tonnes of recyclable items are wrongly placed in the purple bin every year.

► The City Council has launched a number of projects to drive up rates, including:-

► Bigger 90 litre recycling bags for 28,000 terraced properties.

► Introducing recycling collections to 5,500 City Centre apartments.

► Tackling contamination of recycling bins in terraced areas.

► Knocking on doors and speaking to residents in areas with low recycling rates.

Last week, the Council's Cabinet gave the go ahead to a ₤6 million programme to tackle underlying issues with waste, litter and vermin in alleyways, which are also designed to make it easier for people to recycle. It will see a communal waste container placed in areas on black bin bag collections and areas with wheelie bins getting a collection from their back gate.

Councillor James Noakes, Cabinet member with responsibility for recycling, said:- "Our recycling rate has improved significantly over the last decade, but it is clear we still need to do much more to get it to where we want it to be. As well as being good for the environment, there is also a financial issue because every tonne of residual waste from the purple bins costs twice as much to treat as recyclable waste. This means an additional bill of around ₤1.2 million per year for Council tax payers; money we would much rather spend on frontline services. Getting young people to act as ambassadors and encourage behaviour change is a big part of our work, because we know they can be big influencers at home in getting mums and dads to do more. That is why we are continuing to find new ways to reach out to communities and support them to recycle, including getting Schools to do their bit; and it is brilliant that the pupils at Our Lady Immaculate have really embraced it."

Annual golf day raises ₤11,000 for brain injury survivors

A golf day organised by Fletchers Solicitors raised an incredible ₤11,000 for Headway Preston and Chorley. The annual event, which was held at Hesketh Golf Club, was organised by the Southport based solicitors to raise money for the brain injury charity.

More than 60 people from local and national businesses took part in the golf day to raise funds and awareness of Headway, which provides support for people who have suffered a head or brain injury.

Money raised from the event will be used to fund the Headway services and ensure that head injury sufferers continue to receive the necessary support needed after discharge from Hospital.

The sun shone for all the participants who started the day with breakfast in the clubhouse before setting off on the Championship course.

₤500 was raised before the participants even teed off through closest to the pin and longest drive entries. The fundraising was boosted further when a skilful golfer scored a hole in one. Instead of buying the traditional round for everyone in the clubhouse, the generous golfer made a donation to Headway.

Rob Fletcher, Chairman of Fletchers Solicitors, said:- "We are so grateful to everyone who came along to the golf day and helped us raise such a fantastic amount for Headway. It was a very enjoyable day and we are delighted that it raised ₤11,000 for such a deserving charity. Headway is a charity that we are very proud to support because of the incredible work that they do for people with brain injuries. Thank you to Hesketh Golf Club for their Hospitality and the fantastic links course."

Headway Preston and Chorley is a brain injury charity that provides a range of support to meet the needs of people with an acquired brain injury, their families and carers.

Sarah Charnley, Court of Protection Solicitor at Fletchers Solicitors, is Chairman and Director of Headway Preston and Chorley.  Sarah said:- "The golf day was such a great event and we were so pleased with the amount of people who got involved and showed their support for Headway. They do such important work to help people affected by brain injury and thanks to the support of Fletchers and everyone who took part, they can continue to offer their services to the community."

For more information, please visit:- FletchersSolicitors.Co.UK.