Joy of Christmas

Bubble wrap, foil trays and yoghurt pots might not sound like the sort of things you would want to hang on the Christmas tree – at least until Norfolk schoolchildren get their hands on them.

Pupils will transform the items into environmentally-friendly tree decorations with the help of the county council’s Schools Waste Action Club (SWAC).

And the public will have the chance to see their handy work at the Forum in Norwich when the decorations will adorn a 12ft Christmas tree from December 13.

Waste reduction officers will be helped to decorate the tree by 30 pupils from Alderman Swindell First School in Yarmouth.

The lucky group, who were selected from around 1,500 primary school pupils, will also receive eco-friendly gifts from Father Christmas and take part in waste reduction games.

The tree decorating event will be the culmination of two weeks of workshops run in 16 schools. Pupils will be shown how to make tree decorations out of materials that would otherwise have been thrown away in a bid to raise awareness and promote waste reduction at Christmas.

Waste reduction officer Tracey Mitchell said: “Christmas is potentially a very wasteful time of year so we were thrilled by the extremely positive response we received from schools wanting to take part in our recycled decoration workshops. The children are doing a fantastic job and the finished decorations are so effective that it’s really hard to tell they are actually made from rubbish.”

The Christmas tree will be on display at the Forum until December 18 after which the decorations will be returned to the schools.

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