9th January 2012
200 Antrim school pupils learn about REAL cost of litter at biodiversity action day
Translink, along with Business in the Community, TIDY NI, Antrim Borough Council and Legal Island today (January 4th) ran a biodiversity and litter awareness information day for pupils from Antrim Grammar and Parkhall Integrated College, in advance of construction work beginning on the new Antrim bus and rail centre in early 2012*.
Year 8 and 9 students from Antrim Grammar School as well as year 10 Parkhall pupils were invited to short presentations on the cost of litter to Northern Ireland, in terms of public money, time, impacts on local businesses and the environment. The information day, held at Antrim Grammar, was the first in a series of educational events and litter picks to engage with second level schools located close to Antrim station.
A follow up litter pick event will take place in Spring 2012 where local students will clean up a site beside the bus and rail station in Antrim, thereby encouraging young people and their families to take ownership of the new station and its environs.
Group Chief Executive of Translink and Business in the Community Biodiversity champion, Catherine Mason said, “As we begin work on what will be Northern Ireland’s first environmentally sustainable bus and rail centre, we are closely engaging with members of the Antrim community to highlight to them the advantages of having a clean and tidy town.
When completed, this will be a first class integrated bus and rail centre meeting the travel requirements of passengers who will rightly expect the high standard to be reflected in the surrounding area.
It is important that people of all ages and backgrounds in Antrim feel ownership of the new centre. I am delighted that so many pupils had to opportunity to hear the biodiversity and litter awareness presentations today and I would encourage them all to become involved with the clean-up events taking place throughout the year.”
“Translink and Legal Island have shown real leadership in Antrim working with the local community, schools and environmental NGOs such as Tidy NI”, commented Eamonn Keaveney, Environment Director, Business in the Community.
“Taking local ownership of issues such as litter with businesses supporting local people is key to tackling the environmental, social and economic issues facing us all. We are also delighted to see Translink’s Chief Executive in her role as BITC’s Biodiversity Champion making a positive impact for local wildlife.”
Chris Allen from Tidy NI explained that currently, 46% of adults in Northern Ireland admit to dropping litter and he believes that the best way to address this shocking statistic is through educating younger people about the impact of this habit.
“Once somebody has dropped a piece of litter they forget all about it. Our objective is getting people to realise that there are consequences, think about what happens to that litter and the impacts litter has on how their local area is perceived. Aside from the environmental cost in damage to natural habitats and wildlife we find that there are social and economic effects that harm everyone in the area. This is not a victimless crime. 39% of people who admit to littering do it because they don’t know any better. If we can all learn not to drop litter, and all teach our children not to drop litter, then we can stop spending the vast sums of money it costs us to clean up after ourselves, £34 million at the last count. That’s around £20 a year for every one of us in the country.
Donna Kirkpatrick from local legal training and employment law company, Legal Island said, “When doing business, first impressions last and we want the local area to look better and also for school pupils to understand the negative impacts litter could have on the future in terms of attracting investment and new business into the Antrim area.”
Victor Coert, Head of Religious Studies at Antrim Grammar and Patricia Sherrey, Head of Geography at Parkhall Integrated College were in agreement by saying that it was of the upmost importance to change the habits of young people now, through this series of events, to build for a long term litter-free future.
Both schools already have made significant improvements in their local environment through the Eco-Schools programme and have teams who carry out regular projects around Antrim. Parkhall Integrated College were awarded the Eco-schools permanent green flag in 2010. Antrim Grammar School is currently working towards the ‘Green Flag’ award for schools and the issue of litter is one of their main topics.
1. * The station upgrade project has been funded by the Department for Regional Development and through the Sustainable Stations Project (SUSstations), with support from the EU Interreg IVB North West Europe Programme (NWE).
- The aim of the North West Europe Programme (NWE) is to make the NWE region more competitive, environmentally - friendly and cohesive. It will this by improving access to more and better jobs, enhancing the environmental qualities of the region, improving accessibility through intelligent transport solutions and ensuring that our cities and rural areas are attractive and sustainable.
- SusStation Achieving Sustainable Stations Project: is an initiative involving 5 partner organizations (including Translink) from different European countries that supports the construction of sustainable, low carbon railway stations. This involves more sustainable construction and management of station buildings; lower carbon emissions from the rail sector; creating a rail industry environment that encourages sustainable stations, new marketing opportunities, working with the rail industry, government, the public and young people to change attitudes