Rotary Great Britain and Ireland is delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Young Environmentalist competition.
The aim of the competition is to encourage participants to explore and increase their awareness of issues the world is facing and think about ways they can help to overcome them.
Young Environmentalist is one of many competitions where Rotary is involved in developing skills of the future generation. Find out more about Youth Competition here.
Rotary Young Environmentalist 2020 is proudly sponsored by Veolia.
Rotary Great Britain and Ireland is delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Young Environmentalist competition.
Junior (7-10 years old)
1st Place – Cragside Primary School – Newcastle-Gosforth Rotary
Pupils from Year 4 created ‘Climate Club’ and started a campaign called ‘Ditch the car, it’s not far’ encouraging people to walk or get public transport to school. The campaign ran for a week and resulted in less students arriving at scool in a car than before.
With the success of this campaign the ‘Climate Club’ rebranded as the ‘Eco-Club’ as year 5 joined them in helping the environment.
They won a £150 grant and used the money to purchase equipment to help litter pick in their area after noticing alot of rubbish. The next step for the club is to expand, get other pupils and schools to help them in order to make a bigger difference.
See Cragside Primary Schools’ full project here.
2nd Place – Delapre Primary School – Northampton West Rotary
A group of students from Delapre Primary School were inspired to collect crisp packets after discovering that this waste frequently ends up in the worlds oceans. The packets dont decompose in landfill either.
The packets are sent to Terracycle which recycle items some recycling centres are unable to. They use the materials to make new items. This allows the group to earn money for their schools to help fund more play equipment.
See Delapre Primary Schools’ full project here.
3rd Place – Holy Trinity Primary School – Bretby RotaryÂ
Four pupils from Holy Trinity Primary School set up a recycling scheme to help recycle batteries. They have also been in contact with their council suggesting more recycling bins were needed for card, paper and other materials.
The students have also come up with an innovative idea which everyone in their community could get involved with called ‘Fish Fridays’. Fish Fridays occurs on the last Friday of every month encouraging people to fish for plastic. This will help keeps the beaches and community clean.
See Holy Trinity Schools’ full project here.
Pupils from Cragside Primary School created ‘Climate Club’ and started a campaign called ‘Ditch the car, it’s not far’ encouraging people to walk or get public transport to school.
Intermediates (11-13 years old)
1st Place – Clydebank High School – Dumbarton Rotary
Pupils from Clydebank High School decided to start a war against plastic in their school. Plastic is a well used material used for so many products, and thrown away after a single use.
Pupils recorded how much single use plastic their class used over the course of a week, and the results were staggering. To help combat this issue, the class wrote to their council asking to change the plastic being used in their canteen. They also made pledges about what they will personally do to reduce their consumption of single use plastic.
See Clydebank High Schools’ full project here.
2nd Place – Cotswold Academy – North Cotswold Rotary
More than 150 million tonnes of plastic is estimated to be in our oceans, and more than 90% come from rivers and streams. Pupils from the Cotswold Academy decided to create a project to reduce the amount of plastic getting to the sea from rivers.
They attached chicken wire to a bridge over a stream so it hangs down into the water. This caught the plastic floating which they could then take to the recycling centre the next day.
See Cotswold Academy’s’ full project here.
3rd Place – Kinver High School – Kinver Rotary
A group of pupils from Kinver High School made printers the target of their campaign ‘Fridays 4 Future’s’. Parents and teachers were advised to reduce their printing output by using both sides of the sheet and using a smaller font.
In addition, parents and teachers were also given a list of alternative items to use in other areas of their life such as bamboo tooth brushes and metal straws.
See Kinver High Schools’ full project here.
Pupils from Clydebank High School decided to start a war against plastic in their school.
Seniors (14-17 years old)
1st Place – Rebecca Fulford – North Cotswold Rotary
Air pollution can be caused by many things such as plastics, fires and gasses. This can cause problems for our own health and the health of the environment. Using an air monitor Rebecca was able to establish the areas in the school with the worst air pollution.
The results show the worst air pollution comes from cars and busses coming and going from the school, leaving their engines on etc. Rebecca came up with a plan to reduce the effects vehicles would be having on the air pollution by educating fellow pupils to reduce the amount of engines being left on when not in use.
See Rebecca’s’ full project here.
2nd Place – Sian Mercer – Wem Rotary
Sian Mercer has been vocal in her school and community about ways to improve in order to reduce their impact on the environment. One of Sians projects encouraged the collection of plastic bottle tops. After collecting thousands of bottle tops, pupils at the school created artwork with them to help raise awareness of the importance of recycling.
Sian also created a well researched project about the effects of micro-plastics. After analysing the effects it has on the environment she was able to come up with numerous solutions to help tackle the issue looking at it from an individual persons perspective, but al what industries and the government can do to help.
3rd – Charlotte Ley – Cambridge Rotary
Charlottes waste minimisation idea was to transform areas of grass into flower beds. This could happen on unused sports fields, verges and areas of common ground.
Flowers and bushes help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and also provide a food source and habitats for insects and birds, helping to improve biodiversity.
See Charlottes’ full project here.
Rebecca Fulford came up with a plan to reduce the effects vehicles would be having on the air pollution
If you are interested in taking part in the Rotary Young Environmentalist Competition 2021, head to our website for more information on how to enter.
