News

Art challenge success!

23 May

As part of National Climate Change Week (March 21-27), pupils across Redbridge were asked to get creative and turn a pile of rubbish into something new.

20 schools in Redbridge, including special and faith schools, participated in the competition and took up the challenge to turn piles of rubbish into something new or something that can be used. All the entries were displayed at the Kenneth Moore Theatre.

Winners and runner-ups were presented with their awards and certificates at a special ceremony. The best entries won a £50 JD gift card, whilst Runners-up won £25 JD gifts card to purchase sporting equipment for their schools.

Winners and runner-ups in each category:
Primary School
WINNER: Apex Primary School for their Recycling Tree made out of scrap paper and card
WINNER: Ayesha Maqbool, Cleveland Junior School for her jewellery box and jewellery made from recycled plastic and material (pictured above)
RUNNER-UP: Fatima, Cleveland Junior School for her waistcoat and handbag made from pizza boxes

Special School
WINNER: Years 7 and 9 from Little Heath School for their woven school logo made from used plastic bags
RUNNER-UP: Max Belmont, New Rush Hall School for his DSL holder made from used plastic bags and bubble wrap
RUNNER-UP: Tyler Haluwa, New Rush Hall School for his dustbin with detachable interior bag made from a cardboard box

Very well done to the winners and runner-ups for their impressive and innovative designs.

The first ever EcoTeams event in Redbridge

Climate Week also saw the London Borough of Redbridge, in conjunction with Enterprise Plc. host a free EcoTeams event in partnership with Global Action Plan on Sunday 27th March to help residents reduce waste and save money.

Residents learned how to save energy and water to reduce their CO2 emissions by 17%, and reduce their bills by £170 a year.

“It was a great pleasure bringing people from different communities together and to see them learn from each other about how to improve their household efficiency and save valuable resources. The well facilitated interactive training session was full of games and practical ideas which inspired the participants to make improvements across a range of activities including: recycling, shopping, energy, water and travel.” Habiba Ahmed, Waste & Recycling Officer, Enterprise Plc.

Clare Whiting, Global Action Plan Community Programme Manager and event facilitator added: “Everyone was really pleased to learn about the simple measures they could take to make a difference”.

“Thank you so much for organising the event. I have organised and co-ordinated events and I know how much planning and co-ordination is involved in organising an event like this,” said the participant representing Essex Tamil Society.

“The speakers, Clare Whiting, Anmol Rana and Adam Hickman were all brilliant. The key thing is that I was able to meet other people and share effective ways of recycling. It was also an eye opener to see how much energy we could save as a community.”

Over the next few months participants will be recruiting friends, neighbours and colleagues and working together as a team to make positive changes and to take action to not only increase their household efficiency but also keep Redbridge a cleaner, greener place to live.

The EcoTeams programme has been independently certified, and endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme.