Teenagers' designs 'bag' top prizes

Original designs by two talented teenagers will feature on 2,000 new 'green' shopping bags aimed at young people.

Leicestershire pupils were asked to come up with a design for a reusable bag which would appeal to their age group and Joanna Faulks and Amy Stewart have scooped the top prizes.

Joanna, from Stonehill High School, penned an idea featuring retro drinks bottles and Amy, from Groby Community College, included headphones, trainers and cup cakes in her design.

Both will now be turned into reusable bags, made from recycled plastic, and will be offered to young people across Leicestershire to encourage them to use one when shopping.

The competition received over 100 entries and was run by Leicestershire Waste Partnership, which is made up of the county and district councils.

This week, the two winning pupils were presented with a £50 high street shopping voucher by Tony Kershaw, Chairman of the Leicestershire Waste Partnership.

Mr Kershaw said: "I'm delighed that there was such a big response to this competition and would like to congratulate the winning designers - the standard of entries was extremely high and it was not an easy job whittling them down.

"Plastic bag use in the UK has reduced by nearly 50% over the past few years which is a fantastic achievement and we hope that the reusable bag will be a hit with young people.

"The competition is part of our summer-long campaign encouraging people to take a reusable bag with them everytime they shop."

Groby Community College and Stonehill High School will both receive ESPO vouchers to the value of £250.

Four runners-up will also receive £15 high street shopping vouchers and a certificate for their novel design ideas.

The competition entries were judged from a shortlist by our very own Jitty editors Rhien Shepard, aged 19, and Alex McDonald, aged 13,

For more information, please visit www.lesswaste.org.uk.