Case Study - Sheffield City Council

‘Wicked Waste’ makes teenagers drop less litter

The Street Force Team received a stream of complaints about secondary school children littering the areas surrounding their schools. Four years on, the ‘Wicked Waste’ initiative is set to be a life-time commitment for Sheffield City Council.

Complaints about litter generated by pupils on their way to and from school triggered the decision to target secondary schools. The Wicked Waste pledge was born out of a desire to put litter awareness into the curriculum.

"Secondary schools are not approached as often as primary schools for these kinds of projects, although they probably have the most problems with litter." - Margaret Phelan, a member of the council’s Street Force Marketing and Communities Team

Schools waiting to register

Local press, shopkeepers and environmental groups willingly got involved with the project. The pledge was developed with the Children’s Department and three pilot schools and then phased out to the rest of the city. In the end it proved so popular that some schools have had to wait to register. Margaret Phelan thinks that the high profile backing added weight to the project.

"We even had to say no to some schools who wanted to come on board before their phased introduction, as we did not want to take on more schools than we could actually support" - Margaret

Piloting the initiative

About six months after the birth of the Wicked Waste idea, the initiative started to target litter hotspots. By the end of 2004 the initiative involved five secondary schools. It has since grown to involve all the secondary schools in Sheffield. Sixteen of them are currently actively involved, while the rest have recently signed up and are just getting started.

The initiative was first piloted through an ENCAMS Pathfinder project with three schools that fell in the neighbourhood renewal areas of the city. When implementing the project, the team sometimes found it difficult to find the right members of staff to talk to.

Committee of pupils

Other difficulties were in getting some schools to do more than just a cursory litter pick once a year and in making them understand this is not a one-off project. The council supplies the educational resources, while the schools agree to get a committee of school pupils on board.

The schools also develop an action plan for each year. Eventually the aim is to make the schools self-reliant in educating pupils about the problems of litter. However, the council will give continuous support when needed and provide a named contact and support person.

"Having a keen member of staff to lead the project is invaluable. We learnt that schools have very different problems that need a bespoke solution. Nothing works for ever and attitudes and habits are hard to change." - Margaret