Mountain View School in Mangere Bridge has a long-held enthusiasm for recycling. From food waste to rearranging rocks - if something is no longer useful, then they find another purpose for it. A quick tour of the school grounds with Principal Sue McLachlan is accompanied by a host of stories about the ways in which the students are taught to think about and value, their environment. It is no surprise then, to learn that from 1450 entrants, the students have been awarded Fonterra's 2016 Recycling Champions. For the past four years the school has been a recipient of the Fonterra Milk in Schools programme, as part of which they are taught to recycle the cardboard milk packs. The students had to collect all the empty containers, fold them in a special way, so any drops don't leak out, and stack them neatly for the milkman to collect. Initially the milkman nominates the best schools in his delivery area. Then the nominated schools create a video telling the story of their commitment to waste reduction, before the winner is chosen. At assembly on Thursday the 9th of March, the whole school was presented with a trophy by TerraCycle, and thirty students were chosen to attend an upcycling workshop. TerraCycle is a specialist recycling organisation which partners with businesses to create recycling solutions for waste that is not usually considered recyclable. For example, they have come up with a way to recycle cigarette butts into compost and plastic pellets. At Mountain View School, the students created coin pouches, tote bags, and tic-tac-toe sets out of old containers. With the help of some strong tape, Velcro dots and enthusiasm they created some bright, interesting and practical items from rubbish. Student Breeze Johnson is a milk monitor, which means she is one of the team who deliver milk around the school on a daily basis. She says recycling is "good, it keep my school clean. I enjoy making fun things." Onehunga Community News_Apr 7