On the 25th May students from 10 secondary schools across Leinster were presented with the Neat Streets anti-litter award by Fergus O’Dowd Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The schools were acknowledged for their achievements in reducing litter at school and in their local communities.
The schools have made great progress in addressing litter in their schools by developing and adopting various different and innovative approaches to reducing litter and littering, such as; making art from litter, designing anti-litter websites, videoing progress, organising school clean-up events, holding litter action days, teaming up with other schools, promoting litter awareness and encouraging recycling of litter and waste.
Through the Neat Streets programme students developed leadership, project management, mentoring, citizenship and communication skills. This was achieved through the design and implementation of an anti-litter campaign for their schools and local communities. Participating schools initially assessed and measured litter levels and policies within their schools and then to engaged the wider community in implementing a litter management plan for the local area.
Speaking at the Neat Streets event today, Mr. Fergus O’Dowd, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, expressed his appreciation of what An Taisce is striving to achieve through Neat Streets and the broader Green-Schools programme in schools across Ireland.
‘It is really heartening to see so many young people who care for our environment and who are willing to go that extra mile by partaking in this, the first year of the Neat Streets initiative, as part of Green-Schools’, the Minister said. ‘I hope that you and all the other young people in the Green-Schools programme will be leaders in tackling litter. Others in your community such as National Spring Clean volunteers, TidyTowns groups, local businesses and local authorities are also involved in tackling the problem. Working together we can make a real difference.’
This is the first year of the awards and the organisation responsible for running the Neat Streets programme An Taisce was delighted with the response from schools keen to help their local environments. Commenting at the event, Patricia Oliver Director of An Taisce’s Environmental Education Unit said:
‘We were delighted by the response and enthusiasm shown by students for this programme and hope to offer it to more schools around the country next year’
7 of the 10 schools received a double award today as they were also presented with their first Green-Flags by the Minister.
The Neat Streets programme is sponsored by the Wrigley Company Foundation.
Find out more at www.neatstreets.org
Source: Green-Schools Ireland – Neat Streets & Green-Schools Awards
