Calypso, whose range of school-approved drinks includes Aquajuice juicy water, pure fruit juice, fruit smoothies and natural mineral water, is paying for empty PET bottles to be collected and recycled by Valpak in a move which complements the council’s existing recycling initiatives.

"Schools have to pay for the collection and disposal of waste, and can rarely afford the additional cost of sorting and collecting empty plastic bottles for recycling," explains Calypso’s Sales and Marketing Director, Richard Cooke.

"We are delighted that Preston City Council and Valpak, as well as the teachers and pupils at the five schools involved in the trial, are showing such enthusiasm for a scheme which will help to save energy, reduce pressure on landfill sites, and potentially enable schools to cut their waste disposal costs.

"Although the environmental benefits are obvious, projects like this won’t happen without a strong three-way partnership between local authorities, their suppliers and the recycling industry."

Every day, pupils at each school are now putting their empty soft drinks bottles into specially-marked green wheelie bins. When full, these are transferred to a larger skip which is collected by Valpak on a weekly basis.

The bottles are being processed at Valpak’s own recycling facility in Preston where they will become the raw material for a huge variety of useful products ranging from fleeces and pillows to carpets and luggage - or even another plastic bottle. As well as freeing up space in landfill sites for non-recyclable waste, recycling each plastic bottle saves enough power to light a 60 watt lightbulb for six hours or to power a computer for 25 minutes.

The scheme has other benefits too. Pupils studying citizenship as part of Year 8 of the National Curriculum are gaining an insight into recycling thanks to teaching material provided by Valpak’s "recycle-more" initiative, while keeping plastic bottles out of the general refuse will help the schools to cut the cost of waste collection and disposal.

"This project complements our environmental education programme for children in the area who we see as being the next generation of recyclers," says Amy Troner, Senior Recycling Officer for Preston City Council.

If the scheme proves to be both economically and practically viable it could continue on a longer-term basis and be extended to include schools in other areas.