Two Wolverhampton schoolgirls have joined the fight against litter by designing posters that are being displayed on the sides of the city’s bin lorries.
Sophie Rolfe, aged 7, from Castlecroft Primary School and Jasmine Johnson, 10, from Loxdale Primary, won a competition run by the city council to have their eye-catching designs blown up to giant size and placed on 19 wagons.
Bin lorries sporting the posters took to the streets for the first time this week.
Sophie’s design carries the message ‘Keep Wolverhampton Tidy’ and shows two children picking up litter and placing it in a bin. Jasmine’s design features a basketball player stood next to a bin filled with rubbish and the strapline ‘Slam Dunk the Junk’.
Schoolchildren from across the city entered the competition which was part of the council’s Operation Spring Clean initiative. They were tasked with coming up with a design that encouraged people to put their rubbish in a bin.
Sophie and Jasmine impressed the judging panel with their colourful and bold posters.
Cllr Steve Evans, cabinet member for city environment, said: “Sophie and Jasmine have done us proud and designed really eye-catching posters that get the message across that Wolverhampton people don’t want litter.
“It is extremely encouraging that our young people are getting behind the council’s efforts to create a cleaner, greener, better Wolverhampton.
“They are setting an example to older people to take the trouble to use a bin and not drop their litter on the floor creating an eyesore. These posters will be seen by thousands of people every day as the bin wagons go out on their rounds. It is a great way of getting the message across.”
Operation Spring Clean ran during April and May and was a high profile campaign to get street cleaning and environmental issues on people’s agenda. Every street in the city was visited by a team of council street cleaners and community groups got involved by organising clean ups in their neighbourhoods.