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Friday 21 March 2014
Saturday 8 March 2014
50 bags of litter collected in Cowbridge
Pupils and staff from Cowbridge Comprehensive School joined members of the community to collect 50 bags full of litter along a section of the river Thaw on Saturday (8 March 2014).
The Eco-Committee at Cowbridge School worked with Keep Wales Tidy to organise the litter pick following letters of concern by members of the public about the state of the footpath between Cowbridge School and the Town Hall car park.
Michael Walsh, a sixth former at Cowbridge Comprehensive School and chair of the School's Eco-Committee, said: "All of us on the school's Eco-Committee have been worried about the litter in the area surrounding the school and felt it was important that we organised a litter pick. We were also concerned about the effect the litter was having on the river Thaw and the wildlife in the river."
Nia Evans, a Year 7 pupil and a member of the Eco-Committee, added: "We did some research and found that litter in waterways can damage and kill wildlife. For example it can choke birds and fish, it can restrict animals’ growth and can harm their digestive systems.
"Now that the area is cleaner we hope that people will think twice before dropping litter and help to preserve the beautiful habitat around the river for wildlife to enjoy."
Richard Weaver, from Keep Wales Tidy, said: "The pupils worked extremely hard and collected 50 bags of rubbish in two hours. They also found a lorry tyre, suitcase, pram, traffic cone, guttering, football and even an iPhone in and around the river."
The Vale of Glamorgan Council's waste team collected the bags of litter from the car park near the town hall and disposed of them.
The Eco-Committee is a part of the international Eco-Schools programme which encourages pupils to take key roles in decision making and participation in order to reduce the environmental impact of their school. In this way, Eco-Schools extends learning beyond the classroom and develops responsible citizenship attitudes both at home and in the wider community.
Michael Walsh, a sixth former at Cowbridge Comprehensive School and chair of the School's Eco-Committee, said: "All of us on the school's Eco-Committee have been worried about the litter in the area surrounding the school and felt it was important that we organised a litter pick. We were also concerned about the effect the litter was having on the river Thaw and the wildlife in the river."Nia Evans, a Year 7 pupil and a member of the Eco-Committee, added: "We did some research and found that litter in waterways can damage and kill wildlife. For example it can choke birds and fish, it can restrict animals’ growth and can harm their digestive systems.
"Now that the area is cleaner we hope that people will think twice before dropping litter and help to preserve the beautiful habitat around the river for wildlife to enjoy."
Richard Weaver, from Keep Wales Tidy, said: "The pupils worked extremely hard and collected 50 bags of rubbish in two hours. They also found a lorry tyre, suitcase, pram, traffic cone, guttering, football and even an iPhone in and around the river."
The Vale of Glamorgan Council's waste team collected the bags of litter from the car park near the town hall and disposed of them.
The Eco-Committee is a part of the international Eco-Schools programme which encourages pupils to take key roles in decision making and participation in order to reduce the environmental impact of their school. In this way, Eco-Schools extends learning beyond the classroom and develops responsible citizenship attitudes both at home and in the wider community.
Monday 3 March 2014
River Litter Pick - this Saturday, 8 March 9.30am-12.30pm
The Eco-Committee is working in conjunction with Keep Wales Tidy to spring clean the river Thaw in Cowbridge and the surrounding area.
We are looking for pupils, staff and members of the community to join us for the river litter pick on Saturday 8th March 2014. We will meet in the school car park at 9.30am and return to school at about 12noon for hot drinks and finish at 12.30pm. (The Vale of Glamorgan Council's waste team has agreed to collect the litter we have collected from the car park near the town hall.)
Pupils can collect a letter from Mrs Ellis in B1C or Miss White in E block or download the letter from the school website and return the slip to school by Thursday 6 March.
The Eco-Committee has researched a number of reasons why we should clean the river and the area.
- Litter in waterways can damage and kill wildlife. For example it can choke birds and fish, it can restrict animals’ growth and can harm their digestive systems.
- The litter can’t get out of the river so it gets washed up onto the banks and beaches or taken with the tides into the sea. This, in turn, has a detrimental effect on sea life. You can see photographs on the internet of a whale which was cut open and 100 carrier bags were found inside its stomach and a turtle’s shell had grown in the shape of a figure of 8 because when it was smaller it had been caught in can packaging.
As a thank you for coming along and helping out, pupils will be given a pass to skip the lunch queue for a week! It's also an opportunity to volunteer and support the community which will be an excellent addition to pupils’ CVs.
Many hands make light work so we are looking forward to a great response from the pupils and the wider community.
Diolch,
The Eco-Committee
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