MEDIA RELEASE

19 FEBRUARY 2014

Bay of Islands School Wins TV Takeback Competition

A Bay of Islands school has won a competition encouraging students to collect unwanted televisions as part of the Government’s TV TakeBack programme.

Russell School has been named the winner of the upper North Island Enviroschools Challenge, organised by the Ministry for the Environment and The Enviroschools Foundation.

The school had the best participation rate of the 450 Enviroschools in the upper North Island, and has won a 46-inch LED Smart Television and a Home Theatre System from Samsung.

Environment Minister Amy Adams, who launched the Enviroschools Challenge last year, says: “I congratulate Russell School and all those who took part in the Enviroschools challenge to recycle televisions”.

“I have been impressed by the enthusiasm of Enviroschools students and their communities in recycling unwanted televisions. It’s great to see students taking the lead and thinking about the environment.”

Chief Executive of the Enviroschools Foundation, Heidi Mardon, says: “The challenge has been a great opportunity to remind the 190,000 North Island students in our network of schools and kura to reduce their need for a new TV and reuse existing sets where possible before recycling.”

“Empowering Enviroschools students to be environmentally responsible means they're able help their friends and family play a positive role in the long-term sustainability of their community. We’ve certainly contributed to this vision with the Enviroschools Challenge.”

The Enviroschools Challenge encouraged students across the North Island to take unwanted televisions to a participating TV TakeBack drop-off site and nominate an Enviroschool of their choice.

The winner of the lower North Island Challenge was Orautoha School in the Ruapehu District. All nominated Enviroschools were included in a spot prize draw for two Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablets, which went to Arataki Free Kindergarten in Mount Maunganui.

Enviroschools is an education programme that gives schools and children a hands-on approach to looking after the environment. The programme encourages children, their schools, families and communities to think and act sustainably – at school, at home and in everyday life.

TV TakeBack was launched in Hawke’s Bay and the South Island’s West Coast in October 2012 to coincide with New Zealand Going Digital. It was then rolled out to the rest of the country.

Through a Government subsidy, funded through the Waste Minimisation Fund, the cost to the public to recycle a television has been no more than $5.

200,000 TVs have been collected under the TV TakeBack programme so far.

The programme has also improved recycling infrastructure and raised public awareness around the need for responsible recycling of electronic waste.

For information about where televisions can be taken to be recycled go to: www.tvtakeback.govt.nz. For more information about The Enviroschools Foundation’s programmes, go to www.enviroschools.org.nz. 

ENDS

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