Education & Awareness

Magherafelt District Council realise that producing the facilities to recycle is only half the battle. The residents of the District must be empowered with both, the knowledge and the will to use those facilities. There is a real need to educate all sections of the community on the nuts and bolts of sustainable waste management and the need to reduce, reuse and recycle.

In an attempt to inspire the residents of the District to recycle the Council has undertaken a number of education and awareness activities with local schools, community groups, interest groups and anyone else who will get involved to promote recycling in Magherafelt.

To date the bulk of this work has been done with the local schools. Starting in 1997 the Council initiated an environmental awareness tour that visited every school in the District to promote environmental awareness and recycling. Since then the Council has built excellent working relationships with the local schools which have lead to the development of an annual awareness tour and the many other practical projects.

Every school in the Magherafelt now has recycling bins for mixed dry recycables provided by the Council. Most schools participate annually in the Council's Yellow Pages Recycling Competition, the Spring Clean Campaign and the Environmental Youth Speak Competition. While many collect aluminum cans for recycling through the Council. By educating the pupils to recycle in school and by reinforcing that by providing recycling facilities at home and throughout the District the Council hope to empower a new generation of adults ready to recycle.

Magherafelt District Council is a supporter of the Eco-Schools Programme which promotes sustainability within schools and the Council has committed to awarding any school in its District, which obtains the coveted Eco-Schools Green Flag Award, with a cash prize of £500 for school funds.

The Councils Education and Awareness programme is continually developing as it looks for new an innovative ways of engaging schools and all sectors of the community.

Link to Environmental Heritage Service Kids page http://www.doeni.gov.uk