Pupils grow trees in cans for Malawi

Primary school children in Chorley are growing trees in cans as part of a nationwide recycling initiative which converts recycled aluminium cans and foil into fruit trees in Malawi.

A fruit tree is being grown for every tonne of aluminium recycled, so the more we recycle, the more trees will be grown.

Not for profit organisation Alupro is supporting a special project in Malawi which aims to plant 85,000 fruit trees in local community nurseries.

Around half the trees such as guava and pawpaw will be grown from seed and the remainder will be introduced orange, avocado and mango, which will be grafted on to wild rootstock at a new purpose built greenhouse at charity Ripple Africa's Malawian base.

St Marys CE and Withnell Fold primary schools are taking part in the scheme.

They were invited by Alupro to receive the tree growing kit which contains everything needed to grow silver birch saplings to plant at school, along with educational materials linked to recycling, lifecycles and the African project.

Participating schools are also being offered the chance to make a DVD/Video about how they look after their environment' to exchange with a Malawian school.

The first prize for the best film is a trip for the class teacher to visit the project in Malawi.

Every school that enters the competition will win a £20 National Garden voucher to spend making improvements to their school environments.

Recycling aluminium is 20 times more efficient than making it from the raw material bauxite.

And all aluminium recycled through kerbside collections and bring banks in Chorley will be counted towards the project total.