Judges were wowed by breathtaking upcycled items produced by Cheshire East schoolchildren at an awards event.
Schoolchildren from across the borough met at Congleton Town Hall to show off their wares and receive awards for some brilliant designs as part of the ‘great big upcycled design awards evening’.
The project forms part of Cheshire East Council’s waste minimisation strategy, which is managed by the charity Groundwork on behalf of the authority’s arms-length company Ansa Environmental Services.
This year’s competition was launched across all schools in the borough in September. The aim was to get high school students to think differently about waste.
Children were asked to make the most stylish, innovative and useful products they could from materials that normally end up in the bin. Four judging teams were asked to pick their winner.
One of the winners was Olly Hargreaves, from Poynton High School, with his bike rim lamp. The winner was picked by designer, television host and upcycling author Max McMurdo.
Max said: “The winner for me, due to absolute elegance, bravery of working with complimentary materials and gorgeous finish, is Olly. I could honestly see this in a high-end store selling for hundreds of pounds.”
Keeping it in the family, Olly’s brother Jamie, also at Poynton High School, received an award for his bike-rotating stool.
Megan Hough, from Sandbach High School, was a winner with her record and old books Bluetooth speaker. Megan’s entry was picked as a winner by the Upcycled Hour business group, which is a mix of professional upcyclers across the UK.
The final winner was Hayley Rossiter, from St Thomas More Catholic High School, Congleton, with her briefcase desk.
Councillor Paul Bates, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for communities and health, who attended on the evening, said: “There were some truly outstanding exhibits on display this evening. The schoolchildren have clearly put so much time and effort into their designs and should be extremely proud of their efforts.
“It’s brilliant to see so many fantastic designs but it’s also an important reminder to all of us that we should be thinking twice before we throw things away. These young people exhibiting today have set a tremendous example of how we can all contribute to reducing landfill.”
Other schools that took part in the challenge were Middlewich High School, Tytherington High School, Eaton Bank Academy, Congleton and All Hallows Catholic College, Macclesfield.
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