Cornish Schools to play starring role in keeping their communities litter free.

As part of Clean Cornwall week, Surfers Against Sewage and Clean Cornwall are delighted to announce the launch of their innovative new ‘Be The Change’ education programme in 16 schools across Cornwall from the 7th – 21st of March.

Our education team will be delivering the interactive ‘Be The Change’ workshop to over 2,000 primary and secondary school students from Launceston to Cape Cornwall. The workshops will not only promote the vital work already being done by Cornwall’s ‘Litter Heroes’ but also highlight the need for more collective action to stem the rising tide of litter blighting Cornwall’s communities, streets, countryside, beaches and seas. The new ‘Be The Change’ workshops will invite participants to ask themselves what role they can play to keep their communities litter free and inspire them to create their own innovative ‘Anti-Litter Action Plans’. You can download the Be The Change workshop materials here

The schools involved have been invited to send a group of student representatives to a ‘Rubbish Day Out’ hosted by SAS and Clean Cornwall at the Eden Project on the 21st of March. Here they will pitch, Dragon’s Den style, to a panel of expert judges as they bid to win the inaugural ‘Be The Change Award’ where, as well as receiving a bespoke piece of artwork from Cornish glass artist Jo Downs, there are two grants of £500 to support the delivery of the most ambitious and inspiring ‘Anti-Litter Action Plans’.

The Be The Change launch coincides with Clean Cornwall’s new ‘Faces of Cornwall’ campaign promoting the incredible work that Cornwall’s ‘Litter Heroes’ are doing every day across the county’s streets, countryside, beaches and seas. Sadly, in spite of the tireless efforts of bin people, fishers, volunteer litter pickers, passionate school children and so many others, litter is still on the increase and we need to rethink and strength our litter action plans to engage all members of Cornwall’s vibrant communities in the collective drive to a cleaner Cornwall.

The litter crisis knows no boundaries and impacts land and sea alike. There are now approximately 4,000 items of litter for each mile of the UK’s coastline, this equates to a staggering 1 million pieces littered across Cornwall’s stunning 300 miles of coast. Over 80% of marine litter is thought to come from land based sources, which is no surprise considering 2.25 million pieces of litter (the majority of which is plastic) are dropped on the streets of the UK every day.

These shocking stats emphasise the importance of our ‘Litter Heroes’ but clearly highlight the need for individuals and communities in Cornwall to help them by taking responsibility for the litter problem too. We can all make small changes to our lives that have a big impact on the wellbeing of our community and our environment and through the Be The Change education programme Cornish schools will be leading by example.

The Be the Change educational resources are designed to encourage, inform, inspire and empower young people and the communities they represent. The content is aimed at Key Stage 3 and hits the following attainment targets of the National Curriculum: Science, geography, citizenship and PSHE. The resources will be available for download at www.sas.org.uk from March 23rd.

To find out more about the Be The Change education programme or to get your school involved contact our education team at [email protected] or call 01872 553001.