Waste Aware Western Isles
Photograph shows from L-R:
Thomas Davis, Stornoway Plastics; Sharon Mackinnon, Waste Aware; Ann Baird; Sue Hill, Chest Heart & Stroke Western Isles; Finlay Summers & Cameron Porteous, Sheilibost School.
News
Milk Tops - April 2010
Schools throughout the Western Isles have been doing a fantastic job of collecting lids from their plastic milk bottles and taking them into school to help raise money for local charities.
With help from Waste Aware and local lady Ann Baird, the milk tops gathered in by the pupils are passed on to Stornoway Plastics to be recycled into products for the fishing industry such as rings, hooks and creels. It is a great way of producing new useful items from rubbish that would have been thrown away into Landfill and it is even better that it is produced on the Island.
As well as twenty one schools in the Western Isles giving large amounts of milk tops, others have come from locals from all over the Islands and have even been donated from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kyle and who knows where else!
1145.10kg of milk tops has been handed in to the Waste Aware team and shredded by Ann (this is approximately 715,000 lids!) which is an incredible weight to be diverted from Landfill and has raised £629.80 for charity.
Sheilibost Primary School in Harris collected in the heaviest weight amongst the local schools participating in the project and as a result, they requested for the money raised to go to their chosen charity, Chest Heart and Stroke Western Isles.
Schools are still encouraged to continue gathering milk tops and if you haven’t been saving yours then please start now! This project not only helps the Environment but it helps raise money for local charities and youngsters are having fun whilst participating!
The Waste Aware Team would also like to thank Lewis Crofters for allowing the Team to use their large scales for weighing the milk tops throughout the last year.
To find out if your nearest school is taking part in this project or to request further information, please contact Sharon Mackinnon, Community Awareness Officer on 01851 709900.
