Cambridge pupil takes home first prize in national recycling competition

Isabelle Evans, a year 8 pupil from St Mary’s School in Cambridge, has been announced as the winner of a national competition organised by the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro). 

Part of an educational programme to help KS3 school children improve their knowledge about sustainability and waste management, ‘Bin-fluencers’ invited pupils from all four corners of the UK to come up with eye catching artwork for a recycling bin to encourage their classmates to recycle. 

Isabelle’s design blended creative flair with powerful environmental messaging. The judges were impressed with her imaginative approach and alignment with the competition brief. As part of her prize, Isabelle will see her design emblazoned on a new bin at the school and will take home an iPad to support her future studies.

Mrs Kakeengi, teacher at St Mary’s School, said: ‘Having been presented with a Green Flag Award for our environmental best practice, we are committed to making sustainable decisions that benefit our school and set a good example for our students. Primary pupils can join our eco council, while our senior school has its own eco committee. 

‘Alongside organising litter picks in the local community, improving biodiversity across our grounds and embracing initiatives to reduce our food, packaging and paper waste, we carefully integrate sustainability into the curriculum. Harnessing the Bin-fluencers programme was a great opportunity to talk about the importance of recycling and its role in accelerating national progress towards a more circular economy. 

‘We are thrilled for Isabelle and can’t wait to see her bin used by our pupils to help increase the school’s recycling capture rate.’

Tom Giddings, executive director of Alupro, added: ‘Education is key to increasing national recycling rates and we are proud to be delivering initiatives that make a tangible difference. Bin-fluencers is just one of many campaigns that we run to improve awareness and understanding in a fun and creative way. It seems to have gone down a storm with staff and students alike.

‘We were really impressed with the entries that we received, but Isabelle’s design really grabbed us. She is a hugely deserving winner and we hope that the competition has inspired the school to think carefully about the importance of recycling.’

Bin-fluencers is a creative campaign that brings resource efficiency into the classroom. Aimed at KS3 pupils, the initiative explores the benefits of recycling, the properties of packaging materials and the link between consumption and the environment. Supporting teaching notes, fact filled animations, curriculum links, quiz questions and challenge sheets are available to download from the Learning Aluminium website.