Last week, South Leicestershire MP, Alberto Costa, visited Swinford Primary School for a question and answer session with Year 5 and 6 pupils to discuss plastics, the environment and saving the planet.
Pupils from Swinford Primary quizzed Alberto on the Government’s environmental policy, from the new Deposit Return Scheme, to the plastic bag charge and the part Parliament itself is playing to become plastic free.
Alberto talked about the introduction of the 5p plastic bag carrier charge which has been successful in encouraging consumers to use 15.6 billion fewer plastic bags - an 86% reduction - since the new policy was introduced in 2015.
Alberto said, “It was such a tremendous pleasure to visit Swinford Primary School and to speak to their Year 5s and 6s about the environment, and the work we should all be doing to leave the planet in a better condition than we found it. It was brilliant to hear about the pupil’s interest in the good work the Government are doing to encourage more people to recycle and respect the environment”.
Head Teacher at Swinford Primary, Mr O’Connor, added, “It was great to show Alberto around our thriving village primary school. The children were full of questions about recycling and saving the planet and were very interested in Alberto’s role as our constituency MP and what he can do to help us."
Alberto concluded, “I was really struck by some of the excellent questions and understanding the Swinford pupils had about environmental issues; it is, without a doubt, a generation-defining problem and it’s great to see young people with such a good knowledge of this. Policies like the Deposit Return Scheme and the Plastic Bag Charge have been wonderfully successful in reducing our use of plastics, however there is always much more to be done, and I look forward to continue working with primary schools, such as Swinford, to achieve this”.
Alberto is pictured with Year 5 & 6 pupils from Swinford Primary School and Head Teacher, Mr Edy O’Connor (R).
