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'Litter is Rubbish' – Watford Grammar School for Girls claim £1000 prize.
This feature was added on 23rd October 2009
Pupils at a Watford secondary school have won first prize in this year's WasteAware school competition to raise awareness about problems of litter and rubbish.
Year 8 and 9 students at 30 schools across Hertfordshire watched a highly compelling and witty play 'Litter is Rubbish' followed up by a series of litter-themed workshops, before submitting their own waste awareness projects to encourage other people to keep the county tidy.
The schools with the most eye-catching work have now be presented with donations to fund future environmental work, and claiming first place in the 2009 competition and a prize of £1,000 was Watford Grammar School for Girls.
Teenagers at the school in Lady's Close carried out a very wide ranging project, which included a fashion show of clothing and accessories made from household and school rubbish, a fancy dress litter pick at the school, filmed interviews with staff and students about the problem of litter at school, an art sculpture made from litter and a performance of a song about rubbish called 'We will bin you!'.
Derrick Ashley, chairman of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership and Hertfordshire County Council's executive member for waste, said: "The aim of the activities was to raise young peoples' awareness on issues around the problem of litter and rubbish, not only in their own school environment, but also in society as a whole and the areas where they live." The runners up at Adeyfield School in Hemel Hempstead designed and built 'Litterman', which resembled the Keep Britain Tidy logo and incorporated the litter the students had collected from their school site.
In third place, Hertfordshire and Essex High School and Science College in Bishop's Stortford designed, produced and sold various items their pupils had made from rubbish.
Cllr Ashley continued: 'On behalf of the Hertfordshire WasteAware partnership, I would like to congratulate all the schools that entered for their enthusiasm and imagination. They all clearly recognised that waste problems, particularly litter and rubbish, are harmful to our environment and therefore affect us all. The amount of work they have put in demonstrates how important this issue is to young people and I recommend we follow their lead.'