Over 30 students have been involved in making paper briquettes to give out at Christmas.  More than 800 newspapers have been recycled into a useful fuel source for those in the community who still rely on fires for their heating, particularly the elderly.

The papers were first soaked in a large dustbin to make a mush. The mixture was then put into a special briquette maker and the briquettes were left in the greenhouse over several months to dry out. With a burning time of about two hours, we hope that the briquettes will help reduce the fuel costs for some over the winter period.

The project has now been running for 4 years and approximately 1,000 briquettes have been distributed.

Jack Kearsley, year 11, said “Our briquette project was shown on BBC Newsround and recently filmed by a film crew from Abu Dhabi for the Zayed Future Energy Prize Awards. We all enjoyed the filming and it was a fantastic experience.”

Lesley Sleight, Head of Lifeskills, added “There is a lot of paper waste and so it is good to see it being recycled as a fuel source. We hope the briquettes will be of some benefit to the elderly residents of our community.”

Photo – left to right – Annie Quirk, Karl Houghton, Peter Beaumont, John Sayle, Jack Kearsley, Lisa Mellor, Anna McKeown, Natasha Birkby.