News
'Talking Trash' wins £1000 for Hitchin Girls' School
This feature was added on 31st July 2007
A passion for fashion helped Hitchin Girls School to pick up the £1000 first prize in a competition to promote the 'Three Rs' of the Hertfordshire WasteAware campaign - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Earlier this year, the WasteAware campaign commissioned CragRats Education to put on an environmental play, 'Talking Trash', to year 8 and 9 students in Hertfordshire Secondary schools. The schools that received the play were entitled to take part in the competition, which required the students to set up projects to promote the Three Rs message to the rest of their school, friends and families.
The projects were judged on the effectiveness of the idea, the management and success of the project, and the understanding shown by the pupils.
The Hitchin Girls winning project consisted of a fashion show at assembly, collecting old mobile phones for recycling, posters and presentations on the Three Rs by pupils to the rest of the school, an environment day, an environment quiz, and an environment survey.
"All the projects entered into the competition were of a very high quality and demonstrated a high degree of creativity and personal involvement from the students," said County Councillor Derrick Ashley, Executive Member for Planning, Partnerships and Waste. "It was clear that all the participants understood the Three Rs themselves and were enthusiastic about communicating the WasteAware message to their families and friends.
The second prize of £500 went to St Michael's School, Watford. St Michael's produced a DVD to demonstrate what could be recycled at Household Waste Recycling Centres. The DVD, which also showed the tipping hall at Waterdale and collected waste bound for landfill, was shown at all school assemblies. The students also improved the signage at the school's recycling area and ran a whole-school plastic bottle collecting competition.
Joint third prize winners of £250 each were Highfield School, Letchworth, and Dame Alice Owen School, Potters Bar.
Dame Alice Owen School's project involved 29 pupils wearing green for a day and using this as a conversation starter to explain the importance of recycling to other pupils. They kept tally cards of the number of people who asked why they were wearing green. They also made a video of the day and recycling activities around the school. This was followed up by an assembly to the lower school where the video was shown and there were further presentations on the Three Rs.
Highfield School's project involved a carrier bag reduction awareness campaign at school and at Sainburys; a survey of shoppers at Sainsburys; an assembly and posters on the Three Rs and a list of waste wacky facts handed out at Sainsburys and school assembly.
The awards ceremonies took place at the schools on Monday July 9 and Wednesday 11 July, where Aylesford Newsprint Ltd and WasteAware handed out the cheques and certificates.