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Bolton's first Play Area made from recyclable materials is officially unveiled
Last updated: 16th June 2006
A new children's play area inspired by recycling will be officially opened this Monday, June 19th at 10am. The children's play area made predominately from recyclable materials using Race to Recycle money, a first for Bolton, is on Luton Street, Great Lever.
The project has been funded by Bolton Council and also used the £22,873 cash prize from finishing first place in the Race to Recycle 2005. Additional support was provided by a Lottery grant of £10,000 from Fair Share, part of the Big Lottery Fund. Bolton residents scooped the cash prize after storming to victory in the UPM Shotton Race to Recycle awards. The win accounted for half of the total £45,746 prize fund available.
The children's play area on Luton Street rejuvenates an area, which was once, a scrub of land, and also helps to raise awareness of the benefits of recycling. The project involved constructing a 11.5 by 25m play area that houses seven pieces of play equipment including a multi activity climbing slide, cone climber, springies and see saw.
The final colours of the site and range of equipment was decided by children from St Michael's Primary School. The school children were given the opportunity to make their mark on the look of the play area, producing recycling-themed designs in its construction. Year four school children helped with the design that links into the PHSE element of the curriculum.
Recycling was the theme of the park and materials used included safety flooring made from recycled tyres as well as using other recycled materials such as hardcore and a bench made from recycled plastic.
Bolton Council managed to increase its paper recycling rate by an astounding 22.64 percent over the last twelve months, climbing to number one in the Race to Recycle chart.
Councillor Elaine Sherrington, Executive Member of Recycling and Waste Management said: "We wanted to inject the money into a scheme of social and environmental benefit to the whole community. It has been fantastic involving young people in this project to reflect their ideas and bring the scheme to life. The play area will be a lasting tribute to the recycling efforts of everyone in Bolton."
The Race to Recycle Awards, organised by the UK's largest paper recycler, UPM Shotton, encourages residents of eight local authorities in Manchester to recycle more paper. Bolton Council is also involved in this year's Race to Recycle awards and could win even more money to spend on a similar project next year.
The latest information provided by UPM Shotton suggests that Bolton Council is in with a chance of victory again this year, so with less than a month to go there is everything to play for!
Eight Greater Manchester authorities are competing in the annual 'UPM Shotton Race to Recycle 2006' competition. The three winning councils will be announced at an awards ceremony on June 28th at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Bolton Council will be attending the presentation with pupils from St Michael's Primary School as guests so they can see the results of their input to the project.
UPM Shotton, Bolton Council's paper recycling partner, puts £1 into the 'Race to Recycle' prize fund for every tonne of paper collected across Greater Manchester. This is then shared between the three Councils that have increased their paper recycling by the greatest percentage over the past 12 months. The money won can be invested in community or environmental projects.