Repurposing the Future at Allington with Sedgebrook CE School

Repurposing the Future at Allington with Sedgebrook CE School Back in April, BGB set the children of Allington with Sedgebrook CE Primary School an environmental challenge to come up with ways to re-use and re-purpose everyday items, otherwise known as ‘The Circular Economy’. The children had a month to come up with ideas and items ready to be judged by BGB representatives on Friday 21st May. Mrs Barr, Head teacher at Allington said, "This has been a fantastic challenge for our children and they have loved coming up with both creative and practical uses for things that would have otherwise ended up in the bin. The project has created a real sense of unity throughout the school. It has put smiles on our faces and has made us feel proud to be doing our bit to protect the environment.” BGB’s Marketing Manager, James Tupper, who proposed the 'Think Circular' Challenge to the school said, "The children of Allington School blew us away with their creative and novel use of everyday items and how they repurposed them to make useful and eye-opening creations. We saw everything from wheelbarrow seats to planters, wind chimes, bug hotels and pen holders. The children really put lots of effort and thought into the challenge which made judging incredibly difficult.” The challenge was split into Key stage 1 and key stage 2 winners and runners up. Winner of Key Stage 1 was an incredible working Go-kart made from a mixture of an old golf trolley, cupboard and electric car made by Harry-Ray, with runners up gifts going to Ifelara for her lady bird bug hotel, Grace for a recycled recycle bin and Arabella for a wind chime. Key stage 2 winner, Alex won his trophy for an amazing bug hotel made from items found in his garden with each room carefully thought out for different insect requirements. Runner up prize went to Katie for her well designed mouse themed desk tidy, and special commendation went to Alice and Morvah for their wheelbarrow seat, Samual for a shirt made from crisp packets and Arthur for his repurposed plastic bottles made into an indoor skittles game. All the pupils in the school were rewarded for their effort with a BGB "Think Circular” pin badge and a little bag of sweets. Winners Harry Ray and Alex went home with a bag full of prizes including winners trophies kindly donated by Viking Signs who actually repurposed three Grantham Business Award sculptures for the children and an overall ‘Circular Economy Challenge’ award for the school for taking part in the environmental task. See more pictures via the pdf download here: Allington School Challenge. "As a local manufacturer, BGB are fully committed to rolling out our green, environmental initiatives a major one of these is our drive and commitment to The Circular Economy. In this, we are educating and implementing (where possible) a take-make-reuse and repurpose mindset to all our employees and to all of our stakeholders such as customers, suppliers and the local community. We want to increase our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities in the local area which is why I immediately thought of the school in order to work together to help educate the future generations.” James Tupper – Marketing Manager at BGB. A little background on the Circular Economy: The current system of production relies heavily on a ‘linear’ take-make-dispose system, however, dwindling natural resources and spiraling waste generation indicates that the linear economy is unsustainable. This awareness has led to calls for a more circular system of production where items are reused/refurbed/repurposed rather than thrown away or dumped in recycling. Read more on the BGB website: https://www.bgbinnovation.com/circulareconomy/ If you represent a primary or secondary school local to BGB and would like to learn more, get in touch - email us