PlastiCity award for Leigh-on-sea school pupil

March 18, 2022

A local school pupil has won a competition to design a logo for PlastiCity as part of a programme of events to help educate our young people on how to recycle plastics.

A total of eight schools participated in the competition, with 130 entries submitted from young people across the City. The PlastiCity team went through the difficult process of shortlisting all of the entries from the local schools, and four finalists were selected – one from each key stage. These four finalists then went to public vote on our social media channels and Your Say Southend.

The winning entry came from Delilah Eastwood (aged nine), from Leigh North Street Primary School, who won the competition with her incredible logo design, which will be used at future PlastiCity events. Delilah won a PlastiCity trophy, which was made and donated by local company, 3D Fila print, from recycled plastic. She also won a certificate, a £20 voucher, and a framed copy of her design in front of her friends and teachers.

The school also received a £50 voucher to go towards environmental education, with all prizes generously sponsored by Thorpe Hall School. Three other Leigh North Street Primary pupils submitted designs and received a certificate and badge as runners up.

The eight schools involved were:

Leigh North Street Primary School

West Leigh Infant and Junior School

Primary School

Kingsdown School

Southend Adult Community College

The King John School

St George's Catholic Primary School

Cllr Carole Mulroney, cabinet member for environment, culture, tourism and planning, attended the school’s assembly to hand out the awards. She said: “It is so important for us to involve our young people in any work to help promote appropriate recycling of plastics. These children are the future of our City, and the passion they showed throughout was exhilarating.

“I would like to thank all of the schools and students who participated in the competition. The public vote saw over 4,000 votes, so it shows the interest local people have in these issues.

“PlastiCity is doing some incredible work with businesses across Southend-on-Sea, and by branching out to work with schools, all of whom were incredibly receptive, we are increasing the knowledge and understanding of how to minimise plastic use, and how to recycle plastics correctly.”

Southend-on-Sea has been chosen as the only City in the UK to take part in PlastiCity; a three-year research project that aims to increase the amount of recycled commercial and industrial plastics in the 2 seas region (UK, Belgium, France and Netherlands). The project is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the Interreg 2 Seas 2014-2020 European Territorial Cooperation Programme.