THE three Rs have taken on a decidedly different meaning for environment-conscious schoolchildren throughout Bury.

For they stand for reduce, re-use and recycle following a successful education waste programme which has been introduced to schools as well as community groups.

The initiative has been spearheaded by Groundwork Bury in partnership with Bury Council. Now, the scheme is coming to the end of its second year.

To date, the programme has worked with 79 schools and 18 community groups, delivering free workshops and visits to industry for 4,400 pupils, 480 adults and 196 youths.

A variety of recycling schemes also stemmed from the popular project. Three schools and a tenants management co-operative have set up a paper recycling scheme, helping to divert paper going to landfill.

The programme has also helped promote the council's Yellow Pages recycling scheme and has set up the textiles for school initiative. This has resulted in textile cut-offs, destined for landfill, being donated to schools for arts and crafts. So far, the project has helped divert more than 22 tonnes of paper and 310 kilos of textiles from going to landfill.

The aim of the education waste programme is to raise awareness of waste and recycling issues in a fun and interactive way. This gives children a better understanding of how individual decisions can have an impact on the environment.

Teachers can choose between a waste and recycling workshop or a composting workshop followed by a free visit to industry, giving pupils a behind-the-scenes look at how a waste-related company deals with domestic household rubbish.

The successful programme is developed and delivered by Groundwork Bury and Lottery-funded by the £15.3 million Social, Economic and Environmental (SEED) Programme as well as the Environmental Action Fund (EAF) and Greening Greater Manchester.

Groundwork Bury project officer Sheridan Hilton said: "Our programme is a fantastic way of including environmental issues in the syllabus, allowing children to learn about their local environment and how their decisions will affect it now and in later life.

"The programme has been a great success so far, having gained teachers' confidence to deliver a valuable educational programme. As it enters its third year, I believe that this will continue into the future with bookings already being made."