School wins talking bin in national competition (From Haringey Independent)

School wins talking bin in national competition

9:50am Saturday 15th September 2012 in News By Jaber Mohamed

A school in Tottenham was crowned winner of a national competition to help keep the community tidy.

Wisdom School, Phillip Lane, won the competition which encouraged students to improve their area by developing an action plan to reduce litter in and around their school.

Students decided to enter the competition, Run by Wrigley and Keep Britain Tidy, after discussing the problem of littered gum in their school at a school council meeting.

Their anti-littering campaign included clearing chewing gum from desks, producing posters and organising a litter-pick at a local park. Pupils also produced videos of their efforts to highlight the difference their activity made.

As a reward, the school had their poster professionally designed and produced by Wrigley and will receive one of Keep Britain Tidy’s talking bins, which speaks to you when you put any litter in it.

Damian Gray, head of humanities and science, who helped pupils with their campaign said: "The competition itself helped stimulate interest and enthusiasm for our students to build upon their passion for the environment.

“What started out as cleaning our classrooms ended in cleaning the local park. “We hope to continue to build upon our success and passion for the environment by continuing to strive to create new ideas and projects that will also make a difference."

Natalie Fortune, Senior Campaigns Co-ordinator at Keep Britain Tidy, said: “It is fantastic that the pupils at The Wisdom School have taken such a proactive approach to the issue of littering and we were really impressed with the campaign they developed.”