Press Room: British Recycled Products launches competition for Schools

To raise awareness of recycling issues and create enthusiasm among young people, British Recycled Products, in conjunction with Iplas, is launching a video making competition for schools through YouTube.

Encouraging creativity, self-expression and new media skills, the aim of the competition is to provide an effective educational tool for teachers while making recycling issues relevant and meaningful to young people. As a further incentive for taking part, the winning video will be rewarded with over £1500 worth of recycled plastic outdoor furniture for the school or college.

The videos must demonstrate why recycling is important for the present and the future, in just 3 minutes or less and through a choice of forms, such as drama, documentary, comedy, music or animation. The closing date is 10th July 2009, by which time the videos have to be uploaded to YouTube with a link forwarded to British Recycled Products for judging. All of the entries will also remain on a page within the British Recycled Products website for the duration of the competition.

The winners will be judged by a panel of leading British environmentalists and journalists. On the panel:

• Jason Elliott: Director of British Recycled Products, one of the UK's leading distributors of environmentally friendly recycled products
• Dave Hampton: of carboncoach.com, environmentalist and government advisor
• Karen Ford: founder of footprintfriends.com, a website designed to raise awareness of environmental issues amongst 11-18 year olds
• Adam Vaughan: deputy editor of guardian.co.uk environment section

* Keith Hutchinson: Commercial Director of Iplas, the UK's most technologically advanced manufacturer of environmentally friendly recycled composites

The videos will be judged on artistic merit, originality of content and communication of the recycling messages.

The prize, supplied by British Recycled Products includes two picnic-style benches and two bench seats, manufactured in the UK by Iplas from 100% British recycled plastics that would otherwise go to landfill, such as waste car bumpers.

As some initial inspiration, teachers and students can also download a series of free PowerPoint presentations on recycling, specially created as educational aids, at http://www.britishrecycledproducts.co.uk.

British Recycled Products is committed to offering practical support and tangible benefits for schools and offers a 10% discount on the standard product range for participants of the 'Eco-Schools' initiative.

Founder of British Recycled Products, Jason Elliott comments, “Instead of preaching and lecturing about recycling, we've launched this competition to motivate young people to find out for themselves why it’s so important and what better medium than YouTube! The more teachers and students put into the videos, the more everyone will get out of the initiative and we're really looking forward to some great results!”

British Recycled Products is one of very few companies in the UK to exclusively source and supply a range of products for landscaping, highways and construction projects, made in the UK from British waste materials. This commitment supports British manufacturing and jobs, reduces the costs and carbon footprint of transporting materials from abroad and encourages British waste to be diverted from landfill and recycled into useful, high quality products. Choosing British Recycled products can also help local authorities, public bodies and private enterprises meet environmental requirements and sustainability targets.

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For further press information please email press@britishrecycledproducts.co.uk or call 0845 050 8415.