Rotorua pupils encouraged to bring vibrancy to rubbish and recycling trucks

The current Smart Environmental Rotorua rubbish and recycling trucks. Photo / Supplied

Children's creativity is being encouraged to fuse with environmental care, to both help inspire the community and bring colour to rubbish and recycling trucks.

All primary and intermediate schools in Rotorua are invited to enter a competition around adding colourful and vibrant designs to the local fleet of Smart Environmental Rotorua's rubbish and recycling trucks.

Prashant Praveen, Rotorua Lakes Council waste services and sustainability manager, says they want the community to feel more connected to their waste, and think critically about how they can reduce their environmental footprint in their everyday lives.

"Most of the time, sustainability is about making the right choices.

"Poor decision making around waste in the past and present will create challenges for future generations.

"If tamariki can spark a passion of sustainability in their communities through their designs, they are more likely to make responsible choices about waste and create a healthier environment for their futures."

Prashant says the council wants tamariki and their teachers to be inspired by local landscapes, and to want to help keep Rotorua the beautiful city that it is known as.

"Council works with classes who are learning about the waste industry and climate change, and want to know how they can contribute to a healthier environment.

"This is a chance for them to show the community the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling waste correctly."

Designs created should reflect an environmental care and sustainability message, with special reference to Rotorua's unique lakes, geothermal and/or cultural environment.

Some suggested themes include:

• Anti-litter (awareness on litter issues as most of the littered materials end up in lakes or waterways)
• Plastic waste minimisation (discouraging plastic use or promoting the use of recyclable plastic to tackle waste and climate change problems)
• Good recycling practices (awareness on good recycling practices, including what should and should not go into recycling bins)
• Waste and climate change (importance of waste minimisation in the fight against climate change and how to minimise waste)

As well as having their design on Smart Environmental's local recycling truck fleet, the winners will get their design printed on ACM panels and presented back to the school as a mural to install on their own school grounds, $300 of Warehouse Stationary vouchers for the winning classes, a feature in media releases, social media stories and more.

Go to creativerotorua.org.nz/rotorua-schools-call-for-designs for more information and entry criteria. All entries need to be submitted by 5pm, Friday, November 5.