Green creations

children are probably the most environmentally friendly people on the planet, more aware than adults of the damage humans are doing to the earth and what we should be doing to stop it. Time is given to recycling as part of the National Curriculum in science and technology lessons. But playworkers can use young children's enthusiasm for conservation in a host of 'hands-on' activities.

Friends of the Earth is keen to improve the nation's recycling of household waste, which at the moment is only 12 per cent. Remarkable Pencils - the UK's leading supplier of recycled stationery, produces a full range of school equipment children can use to preserve the environment, including pencil cases made from old car tyres. Remarkable showed visitors to the Millennium Dome, much to their amazement, how vending cups could be turned into pencils. The machinery was adapted using see-through panels to give people a cross-section view of every stage of the process. Those who still weren't convinced were able to test the pencils on a notepad at the end of the production line.