School first to join million-bag litter challenge

A primary school has become the first in the country to join the One Million Bags challenge, an initiative to encourage people to pick up litter.

Year 3 pupils from Bristol's Kings' Forest Primary School in Kingswood have collected more than 40 bags of litter as part of a wider project to boost environmental learning.

The children were joined on a litter pick by the founder of the One Million Bags scheme, Mark Rowlands, from Easter Compton, near Bristol.

Rowlands said: "As soon as we came into the park they were like ants. They had cleared the park in minutes."

Rowlands had the idea for One Millions Bags in 2024 after collecting a bag of litter at Everest Base Camp.

"I thought 'how can we encourage people to get out of doors, get active and give back to their community at the same time?'," said Rowlands.

The campaign has already filled 170,000 bags and Rowlands is confident it will reach 350,000 by the end of the year.

Rowlands joined the Year 3 pupils from Kings' Forest on the litter pick in Deerswood Park in Kingswood, near the school.

Teacher Alex Price thought the challenge linked well with current learning about deserts, rivers and oceans.

"They are at that age where they want to make a difference," said Price, adding: "They want to make an impact in the world around them."

Pupil Bella told the BBC: "If we pick up litter it makes the world much cleaner."

Her fellow classmate Cassius added: "If you don't pick up litter it will go through the drains and into the ocean."

Rowlands was hugely positive about his first school litter pick.

"They understand the impact on the environment and they want to do something about it, and we've seen that first hand today," he said.

He was also keen to stress that anyone can call Bristol City Council to request a litter-picker sticks and bags. Council workers will then drop the items off and collect rubbish bags from you at a later date.

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