‘Plastic is not fantastic’, say Drumquin P.S pupils

A DRUMQUIN primary school has been honoured for its environmental initiatives by winning the ‘PROUD’ plastics competition.

The pupils of Langfield PS have been working hard to tackle the ‘menace of plastic waste’.

As well as learning about its polluting effects on the world, the kids rolled up their sleeves and embarked on a litter pick in Drumquin village.

The ‘PROUD’ plastics competition was launched in 2019 as a collaborative effort amongst the Education Authority, DAERA, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and Queen’s University, Belfast.

Voicing the purpose for the project’s introduction, Dale Hanna, Education Authority Director of Operations and Estates said, “This competition will help to raise awareness of environmental issues generated by plastic waste amongst our children and young people and help lead to changing behaviours.”

The pupils were tasked with becoming Plastic Reduction Organisation’s Ultra Detectives (PROUD).

They were recruited as ‘Ultra Detectives’ on a mission to tackle the evil villain, ‘The menace of plastic waste’.

This innovative idea put a playful twist on the project, making it especially appealing to the children.

Yvonne Leslie, single use plastic policy advisor from DAERA praised the children for their efforts.

“It’s been great to see the talent, the skills, the learning,” she said.

“From the IT skills, to doing their audits and weighing the different waste and plastics and then seeing the benefits”

Some of the activities the kids completed include estimating waste produced, determining specific sources and quantities of waste, estimating the current financial cost of waste disposal, amongst many other useful tasks.

Sheena McEldowney, waste and biodiversity manager from the Education Authority, was also impressed with the childrens’ efforts.

“These kids put a huge amount of effort and research into carrying out their project for the PROUD competition,” she stated.

“We were delighted to see the range of solutions they came up with for dealing with single use plastics within their school and it was just a privilege for us to meet with them today.”

One activity which had a positive impact on the environment was the pupils picking up litter in Drumquin town.

Langfield principal, Ruth Moore congratulated her pupils, saying, “It was nice to be able to get out and about and do a bit of litter picking and see the village and support the community… It was fantastic to hear the good news that we won; I think the children deserved it because they had put in a lot of effort.”