Waste Education

Aim

This project was aimed at working with students from Swanlea School who live on the Collingwood Estate in Tower Hamlets. The plan was to create a programme on developing environmental improvements and raising awareness around waste minimisation and citizenship issues.

The purpose of this activity was to give ‘ownership’ of environmental improvement projects to the young people so that using their enterprise skills and talents, they were able to manufacture a 20 minutes long video production which reflected their opinions, ideas and desire for improvement in their own estate of residence.

The Year 10 students who participated in this project were:

1. Sheik Damu
2. Tomal Hoque
3. Reyhan Uddin
4. Samad Choudhury
   

Plan

• Research on environmental issues and concerns for Collingwood Estate
• Find volunteers of Collingwood Estate to interview
• Contact Waste Education Project/Tower Hamlets Council
• Collaborate with Davenant Centre
• Plan the content of the video
• Rehearse for the film
  

Description of the project

The project was mainly carried out by using photography and video recordings. By using images, young participants were able to assist in the development of a particular space thorough various means of consultation and environmental audit techniques. The youngsters were able to put forth their perspective on the estate directly to video camera.

Swanlea School students collaborated with the Waste Education Project and other voluntary organisations to manufacture the video on Collingwood Estate, entitled The Estate We’re In. Phil Maxwell from Housing and the Waste Education Officer coordinated the video programme and assisted in its delivery. Outreach worker, Ray Okunubi also contributed to the success of the project.

During the making of the video, Swanlea participants had to canvass their ideas on how Collinwood Estate would benefit from environmental changes and improvements. These student felt that their Estate had not undergone sufficient social and economical changes in order to make it a safer and healthy place of residence. Thus, they examined various environmental suggestions and ideas regarding the proposed ‘camp area’.

Due to the absence of a youth club, Swanlea residents had been using a small sheltered place on Collinwood Estate (‘the camp’), where they met up for social gathering. Young resident utilised this ‘camp’ for recreational by manking board games out of wasted pieces of woods and cardboards. They even produced a bench for themselves.

One of their suggestions to Tower Hamlets Council was therefore, to establish a youth club with youth workers running programmes for young residents. The participants of this project were eager to be taught youth work skills which they would then pass on to the younger people of Collingwood Estate.

In order to make the film inclusive, a few residents of Collingwood Estate were interviewed. An elderly gentleman, who had been residing in the Estate for most of his life, commented on the history of the Estate and the social changes that he has witnessed. He explains in the video that Brady Street was ‘dump’ due to the fact that were was a brewery in the street. When this closed down, Sainsbury’s was established, bringing the community closer through local shopping means.

Other aspects of the video included community events such bingo for the elderly residents and wall-painting activities for the youngsters so that the film production was given a grass root context.

One of the defining features of the project was the concept of consultation between Swanlea participants and the Council. The pupils decided that Collingwood Estate required a high quality service for youths and recycling initiatives should commence in order to improve environmental conditions. They sent Mr Bodrul Hoque from the Davenant Centre to represent their views ideas and proposals.

The video is provided with a sound track and allowed people of all age in the Estate to voice their aspirations through multi-media technology. Due to the success of the project, it was showcased in the annual Photomonth exhibition, which has grown in prestige in recent years. The exhibition reflected the aspirations of residents and Swanlea participants for change and environmental improvements on the estate. Above all, The Estate We’re In demonstrated the importance of developing positive links between school and the local community.

Enterprise context

Through this project, young participants utilised their skills of team-working, problem-solving, learning to collaborate with older people, examining environmental proposals, putting forth their opinions and articulating themselves over important social and environmental matters. Through the production of the Video, students gained more confidence, developed their presentation skills and established a positive link with the local community. These skills play an integral part in the running of a Specialist Business and Enterprise School.

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