MORE than 30,000 households around the county have signed up to a recycling scheme that turns rubbish into rewards for schools and prizes for pupils.

Children at over 200 primary schools are taking part in the Recycling Rewards for Schools scheme that encourages kids to collect pledges from family, neighbours and friends to recycle household waste.

Each pledge earns points that can then be exchanged for school kit like computers, cameras and musical instruments.

The school that collects the most pledges in each of Cumbria's six districts will also win £1,000 in cash. Pupils will earn pens, rulers, pencils and pencil sharpeners for themselves as their tally of pledges grows while the individual pupil who picks up the most pledges overall will win a digital camera.

When the campaign comes to a close on March 31, the top performing primary school in each of the districts will also win a state-of-the-art keyboard worth around £200 and the two runners-up can each win a classical acoustic guitar.

Recycling Rewards for Schools aims to increase household recycling and is being run by Resource Cumbria - the strategic waste partnership between Cumbria County Council and the six district councils.

Jack Richardson, county council spokesman on waste management and chairman of Resource Cumbria, said: "This is a great scheme. It pushes all the right buttons because it helps get households in Cumbria recycling more of their waste. It also gets school children involved in recycling while encouraging a generation of adults to change their behaviour and get to grips with the issue of waste and what to do with it.

"Already 30,000 households have given pledges and that means this scheme is really reducing the amount we needlessly throw out - that is good for the Cumbrian environment and good for the Cumbrian council tax payer."

School performances will be weighted to make allowances for differing pupil numbers by ranking schools by total pledges and pledge per pupil ratios.