Recycling ideas – Junk mail gets artistic treatment at St Joseph’s Primary School in Covent Garden

Published: 05 August, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

A MOUNTAIN of junk mail has been put to good use and turned into a work of art by school children.

The life-size tree – made by Year 5 pupils at St Joseph’s Primary School in Covent Garden with the help of artist Andrew Dwyer – will be displayed at Swiss Cottage Library throughout the summer holidays.

The project was designed to get children to think about waste and recycling.

Parents at the school have been advised how they can cut the leaflets and promotions coming through their door by displaying “No junk mail” signs and taking their names off direct mailing lists.

Paris Williams, 10, said: “It was a fun project and I learnt about all the trees that get cut down to make junk mail, and that we can stop junk mail coming to our house.”

Camden’s deputy leader Councillor Angela Mason said: “It is really important that we look at these environmental issues, both in our own community, and in the wider world. By contacting the mail preference service we can reduce the amount of junk mail we receive, and by recycling what we do receive, we can make changes that improve our surroundings and reduce our carbon footprint.”