Ardnagrath NS in semi-finals of Young Environmentalist awards

For the second year running, an Ardnagrath National School Green Team will take part in the UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards semi-finals at the University of Galway on Tuesday next, March 25.

Following on from their success in reaching the finals last year, this year's team from the school in Walderstown took on the challenge of tackling litter in Athlone town.

The pupils mapped the location of bins and looked at areas where there was a lot of litter in the town. The children could see that there was a shortage of bins in the Athlone area and they wanted to take some action to see if they could improve the town's litter problem.

These young environmentalists contacted local council representive, Mayor Frankie Keena, following on from a petition to increase the number of bins in the town.

Bins have been removed from the Athlone area in recent years, with Cllr Keena informing the children that this is down to the fact that some members of the public were abusing the service by placing their domestic waste in them.

The children welcome the opportunity to sit down with Cllr Keena in the coming days to discuss the matter further.

Using creativity, skills, and taking inspiration from the Re-Turn Scheme, the children also created a prototype of a new bin. This bin would use a sensor to separate recyclable and non-recyclable materials into separate compartments, thus helping to dispose of waste in an environmentally and efficient way.

The children look forward to sharing their project in Galway and hope to inspire all those in the local area to mindful of waste and take heed from their motto, not to be bitter about litter but be in it to bin it!