School pupils are doing their bit to boost the borough’s impressive recycling rates – recycling so many tonnes of material that it was equivalent to the weight of about 140 African elephants.

In the 2017/18 financial year, more than 830 tonnes of waste was recycled by local schools. It represents an improvement of more than 180 tonnes on the previous period – showing that residents of all ages are taking up the challenge of recycling and helping to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill.

‘It’s encouraging to see young people involved in recycling’

Councillor Mik Sabiers, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for environment and highways, said: “Rising recycling rates in our schools is great news and I’d like to thanks staff and pupils across the borough for their hard work in contributing to this achievement.

“It’s encouraging to see young people involved in recycling and working towards a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly borough, and it sets a good precedent for the future.”

‘We are already one of the very best boroughs’

Ealing currently recycles half of its household waste – the best borough rate in London bar one, and 18 percentage points ahead of the average borough rate across London.

Councillor Sabiers continued: “We are already one of the very best boroughs in the capital for recycling and remain committed to significantly improving our rates even further in the coming years. We are targeting a 60% rate by 2022.

“The more we recycle, the less we have to spend on the ever-growing landfill taxes that can cost boroughs millions of pounds. Simply put, the more we recycle, the more councils have to spend on providing your services.”

Visit www.ealing.gov.uk/recycling for more information on recycling.