SUEZ helps Hamstead Infant School go green

SUEZ – who manage waste and recycling material for local authorities and businesses across the UK – are helping Hamstead Infant School in Great Barr, Sandwell, go green by upcycling tyres thrown away at local Household Waste Recycling Centres and turning them in to seats, tables and planters for the school playground.

The tyres were destined for landfill until the team at SUEZ’s roadsweeping recycling facility in Willenhall salvaged and repurposed them, turning them in to minion planters, tea-cup planter, and colourful seats and tables.

The SUEZ team are also supplying the school with bug hotels and bird boxes, and are giving every child in the school a re-usable water bottle to help reduce single use plastic.

Maxine Sennett, Assistant Site Manager at SUEZ’s facility in Willenhall, said: “It was a chance conversation I had with a neighbour that brought about this project. After hearing about how the school was trying to both go green and transform its early years’ play area on a limited budget, I shared the pictures of what we had managed to create from thrown away tyres – and the rest is history!”

Andrea Day, Headteacher at Hamstead Infant School said: “We are incredibly grateful to SUEZ for their hard work and kind donations to support our outdoor area. School budgets are becoming increasingly tight and to have such a wonderful resource for our children to enjoy is very much appreciated. This will enhance their creative and physical environment and support our ‘go green’ initiative.”

SUEZ’s roadsweeping recycling facility in Willenhall was the first of its kind in the UK, receiving waste material collected by roadsweepers and sorting it into sand, aggregate and organic material for recycling. Each year, the facility recycles 35,000 tonnes of material that would otherwise have gone to landfill.