Yorkshire School Kids Set Up Recycling Business
With environmental concerns at an all-time high, and many of us beginning to fully take responsibility for our carbon footprints and other negative influences on the world around us, it is more important than ever to ensure that our children are educated as to ways in which they can stay ‘green’.
Whether it’s putting recyclable waste in the correct bins or reusing plastic drinks bottles, children are learning about the importance of recycling at a younger age in an effort to enforce good habits that will follow them into adulthood.
It appears that one group of Yorkshire schoolchildren have taken things one step further however, combining a passion for recycling with an entrepreneurial spirit to create Trash4Cash. An innovative concept, the group of year 8 students from St Bede’s Catholic Grammar School in Bradford devised a plan that revolves around collecting recyclable waste products and reselling them to local businesses – one so eye-catching that it has landed them thousands of pounds in order to setup and run the company.
Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge
The money was awarded to Trash4Cash for winning a national competition put on to acknowledge the bright ideas of schoolchildren from across the country. Held on the 1st of May, the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge rewarded teams of secondary school students who make it through various regional heats with their innovative business concepts, with the overall winner taking home not only a trophy, but also £3,000. £500 of this is designated as “seed money” to get their organisation off the ground.
The St Bede’s group beat off competition from a number of other schools, with ideas ranging from ways in which to promote allotment use, through to mobile phone diary apps to replace paper books. Their Trash4Cash scheme impressed the team of judges, which included a number of familiar faces – among them former Apprentice star Margaret Mountford and Made in Chelsea regular Amber Atherton, owner of online jewellery boutique My Flash Trash.
Another member of the panel, former Apprentice contestant Melody Hossaini, was impressed by the approach of the St Bede’s group to finding a “sustainable strategy that more people need to employ”, and praised the competition’s ability to “open young people’s eyes to a kinder way of doing business” that wasn’t the “dog-eat-dog corporate world” portrayed on the show.
As a final, additional reward, the Trash4Cash team visited the set of BBC2’s Dragon’s Den for a bit of expert advice from the business titans, and will also receive a year’s worth of mentoring from the Entrepreneurs Organisation.
It is telling that more than one of the finalists in the Apax-Mosaic competition focused on environmental themes for their businesses, with more and more companies adopting a greener ethos in their practices around the globe.
Here at Woodford Recycling, we are dedicated to recycling over 85% of the waste we collect from our customers. Our facilities are fully equipped to process a wide range of materials, from household to commercial waste, and our permit allows us to deal with hazardous waste too, such as asbestos and plasterboard.
For more information, get it in touch with Woodford Recycling today.
