26 pupils from sixteen schools across the Council area participated in the 2019 Environmental Youth Speak competition at Lagan Valley Island hosted by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council.

The pupils confidently displayed their public speaking skills in front of an environmental judging panel. The event was categorised into a Junior Section (P6 and P7 pupils) and Senior Section (Year 8 to Year 10 pupils), with this year’s respective themes being: ‘How can the 5R’s help deal with our waste?’ and ‘No excuse for single use’.

Matthew Mullan of Annahilt Primary School in the Junior Section and Grace Gowley and Victoria Lavery of Lisnagarvey High School in the Senior Section took the Winners’ Cups back to their schools.

Sophie-Kelly Bradley and Tara Kerr from St Ita’s Primary School (Junior Section) and Grace Murray and Jack Hassard of Lagan College (Senior Section) won second place. The third place winners were Kacper Kwiecien and Lennon Humphries from Brooklands Primary School (Junior Section) and Jack Kimber and Owen Greer of Beechlawn School (Senior Section).

Councillor Janet Gray MBE, Chairman of the Council’s Environmental Services Committee, speaking about the event, said: “It was an honour to be part of this year’s Environmental Youth Speak and I would like to thank local recycling company, Natural World Products Ltd for providing sponsorship to this event. I found it very encouraging to hear how passionate the younger generation is about waste and responsible recycling. I have no doubt that outside of practicing for today’s presentations they also spent time educating family and friends on reducing, reusing and recycling and the benefits of reusable alternatives to products such as coffee cups.

“Each young person delivered an excellent, well-structured presentation on the nominated recycling topics; and they made it a very difficult decision for us judges to determine the winners. Protecting the environment is everyone’s responsibility and we need to follow in the passionate footsteps of our children as they know how to reduce waste and improve waste recycling. Public speaking is never an easy task and nerves can often creep in, but I must say everyone did a fantastic job; and I am confident that your parents and teachers are extremely proud of your achievements.”

All the participants at the Lisburn Castlereagh event, organised by the Council’s Waste Management Section, received a certificate, a reusable shopping bag, reusable travel cup and a recycled ruler