Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Streetwise Partnership and Business Support Coordinator Rebecca Sanderson and Streetwise Apprentice Tech Business Support Officer Evelyn Shaw have been working on their ‘don’t be a litter bug, be a litter hero’ campaign in recent months.
The project has seen them visit 23 different schools so far across the Borough to deliver talks about littering, recycling and looking after the environment, whilst also setting the children an artwork competition for the chance to name the new road sweeper at Streetwise.
Rebecca said: “I was looking into different ways we could educate the community on the work done by Streetwise and we decided to launch a project where we go into schools to promote our litter picking service, voluntary litter picking groups and recycling.
“The aim of educating the children on basics such as what rubbish goes in which bin through engaging content and activities before setting up a competition for them to take part in where they can put reduce, recycle, reuse into practice.
“We set them all the task of making a creative piece of artwork using litter and recyclable items or doing a drawing around the theme of being a litter hero, then at a later date we return to the school to award prizes for first, second and third, with the winner from each school advancing to the overall final with all the winners from across the Borough.”
All schools will have been visited by the end of October ahead of a presentation event which will be hosted at Rushcliffe Arena in West Bridgford.
The project will continue in the new year with further visits to senior schools to talk to them about anti-social behaviour and graffiti, as well as attending local youth services, Scouts and Girl Guides to talk about litter picking.