Technology package up for grabs for Enviroschools

A competition for Enviroschools that aims to raise awareness among school students and their communities of the need to recycle unwanted televisions was launched by environment minister Amy Adams this week.

The Enviroschools Challenge is a joint initiative organised by the Ministry for the Environment and the Enviroschools Foundation, as part of the TV TakeBack programme.

When students take an unwanted television to a participating drop-off site, they can nominate an Enviroschool of their choice. The Enviroschool with the best participation rate will win a technology package, while all nominated schools will also go into the draw to win further prizes.

The Enviroschools Challenge starts today in the lower North Island and East Cape, and will be extended to the upper North Island later this year.

“Children are the environmental leaders of the future so I am looking forward to seeing them take up this challenge,” Adams says.

“Old televisions are a difficult recycling challenge, but through people thinking about the environment, we can stop thousands of tonnes of harmful material going to landfill.”

The TV TakeBack scheme makes recycling a television affordable and straightforward. Through a government subsidy, the cost to the public to recycle a television is no more than $5.

The scheme has been running since October last year, with more than 111,000 televisions collected for recycling.

Enviroschools is an education programme that gives schools and children a hands-on approach to looking after the environment.

The programme encourages children, their schools and their families to think and act sustainably – at school, at home and in everyday life.