School visits continue to raise awareness of environment for the future

Dover District Council is working in partnership with local primary schools giving educational talks to encourage greater respect and pride within our communities and highlight the importance of everyone helping to look after the local environment.

These educational talks involve pupils in a series of fun activities such as a quiz identifying how long different items of litter take to biodegrade. Volunteers from the teaching staff have been surrounded with littered items/rubbish collected from the local area and then asked to describe their experience to the children. This emphasises the impact litter can have on us as residents of the district.

The key messages presented are the importance of putting litter in the bin, picking up after pets, and keeping our district clean, tidy and safe for the future.

One of the recent visits was to White Cliffs Primary College in Dover, and the workshop was delivered in partnership with the school, which is working on a project on food waste, and how food is thrown away in some parts of the world, while in other parts people are starving.

Claire Daw from White Cliffs Primary College said: "The presentation has tied in perfectly with our focus on environmental issues this week. The children have definitely learnt some valuable lessons about how rubbish can affect their community and what they can do to help the situation."

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, DDC Cabinet Member for Environment said: "We were delighted to work with White Cliffs Primary College, and we continue to visit schools across the district. This is part of our work to raise awareness of the importance of keeping our district safe, and to encourage everyone to take pride in their community and to respect the environment now and for the future. We continue to look at a balance between education and enforcement in tackling littering and dog fouling across the district."

If you think your school would benefit from a presentation from the environmental crime team, contact DDC at (01304) 872096, or for more information see the DDC website at www.dover.gov.uk.