The pupils visited Jersey Zoo earlier in the week with 2,000 aluminium cans they had collected for Durrell’s Cans For Corridors initiative – enough to enable 40 trees to be planted.

The project was founded in 2002 to help restore the natural habitat of endangered species that has been destroyed by deforestation.

One such species is the black lion tamarin, a critically endangered species that was first bred at the zoo in 1990.

The money raised from recycling approximately 50 cans enables the project to plant one tree. More than 90,000 trees have been planted thanks to Durrell’s involvement.

A spokeswoman from Durrell said: ‘As governments and companies have torn down forest cover at alarming rates, species’ homes have disappeared. Durrell’s reforestation efforts restore, expand and link previously destroyed habitats.

‘Islanders have put more than one million aluminium cans in the collection point at Durrell’s wildlife park since it was placed there.’

Jersey Zoo added that the reason aluminium is used over other materials is because it is the most cost-effective reclaimable metal and recycling it is 90 per cent more efficient than mining the raw material. A recycled can will be back on supermarket shelves in about two months, it said.

The scheme was originally set up in Jersey schools to run for a year but it proved so successful, it was decided to keep it going.