Pupils in Bradford are being encouraged to value a different set of three Rs - reducing, reusing and recycling.

Schools are making an effort to go green by recycling, composting, gardening and conserving energy, with the help of teachers and Bradford Council.

Anne Dixon, the Council's waste education officer, has the task of informing children during her visits to primaries and secondaries.

She said: "Most of the schools I visit are very keen to be more aware of recycling."

"With younger children I put a large pile of clean' rubbish in the middle of the class room, with large hoola hoops, around the edge. Pupils then divide the pile into glass, plastic, cardboard, paper and metal," she said.

Mrs Dixon said the Council helps 140 schools to recycle paper and she encourages children to keep a dustbin diary, where they log what is thrown in the bin at home.

She said the approach had to be different with older children and anti-litter lessons are part of personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum.

"At Thornton Grammar the pupils set up a court room and re-enacted a case about fly-tipping."

Schools are taking on board the ideas.

Haworth Primary School in Rawdon Road, Haworth, has applied for an eco school international award and the school has set up an eco committee which includes pupils.

The school has a gardening club, lunchbox monitors and a litter-picking squad.

The refurbished buildings at Green Lane Primary in Bradford are heated by heat pumps and the lights are on sensors, so they turn off when the room is unoccupied.

Light sensors have been installed in a number of schools across the district including Hanson at Swain House, Bradford, and St Matthew's CE Primary in Mayo Avenue.

St Walburga's RC Primary in Shipley has a gardening club and has revamped the Victorian garden.

Westbourne Primary in Manningham has collected plastic bottles for recycling while Saltaire Primary has various recycling schemes and an eco group.

Every class in Ley Top Primary in Allerton has recycling bins and children work alongside the caretaker to help empty the bins and an Environmental Science Group has been set up to encourage children to grow their own vegetables and make compost.

St James's Church Primary School in Allerton, Bradford, has an army of green monitors and each class has a bio bag which is used to collect any waste, which then goes into a compost bin.

Mums are also helping out and at Atlas Primary Primary School in Lincoln Close, Bradford, they helped to pick up litter in the streets around the school as part of the Council's Clean Sweep campaign.

Mrs Dixon said: "The children in schools are the future adults of Bradford and will be part of the global community.

"It is important to build reducing, reusing and recycling it into their way of life, so it becomes second nature to them."

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