JOIN the Wizard s War on Waste and find out which Stevenage primary school will be crowned champion of the Lunchbox Challenge. The borough council is running a competition to encourage students to reduce the amount of waste in their lunchboxes and recycle

JOIN the Wizard's War on Waste and find out which Stevenage primary school will be crowned champion of the Lunchbox Challenge.

The borough council is running a competition to encourage students to reduce the amount of waste in their lunchboxes and recycle as much as they can.

The aim is to have a healthy packed lunch with as little packaging and waste as possible.

Schools that enter the competition can make an appointment for the council's recycling team to come and weigh all their leftover lunchbox waste.

The school that produces the least waste per lunchbox pupil with be the Lunchbox Challenge Champion. The recycling team will also give all the youngsters some handy tips on how to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost their waste.

The winning school will win a Sturdy Bench, made entirely from recycled plastic, courtesy of Marmax Products Ltd.

Second prize is a selection of educational books on recycling, waste and healthy eating and third prize is 30 computer mouse pads made from recycled car tyres, courtesy of RecycleRus.

Taking part in the Lunchbox Challenge can also count towards nationally recognised Eco Schools awards, which 28 Stevenage schools are currently aiming for.

Executive councillor for environment and e-government, Richard Henry, said: "This is a fantastic competition because it gets young people thinking about recycling and reducing waste and shows them that just doing a little can help a lot.

"Everyone knows the three 'r''s' of education but we also want to teach the three environmental 'r's' which are reduce, reuse and recycle."

For more information or to book a weigh-in date, telephone 0800 0527007 or email: wastewizard@stevenage.gov.uk before Wednesday, 18 October.