YOUNG eco-warriors are taking up arms in the war against plastic.

Westhoughton High School pupils have joined a new campaign to drastically cut the use of single-use plastic in UK schools.

The school is one of 12 across the country to have signed up to Plastic Pioneers, a campaign led by environmental charity Hubbub.

And the pupils work together sharing ideas on how to reduce their consumption of single-use plastic.

As part of the campaign, pupils form a Plastic Pioneers committee and audit their school’s consumption of single-use plastic.

They then advise on ­— and experiment with ­—ways to reduce single-use plastic,.

At Westhoughton High School, 35 pupils are on the Plastic Pioneers Committee.

They persuaded the school to stop selling bottled water and through the campaign, have provided classmates with reusable bottles, which Plastic Pioneers pupils helped design.

They have also removed plastic packaging from their canteen.

Committee members wear Plastic Pioneers badges to encourage their classmates to think carefully about their consumption of single-use plastic.

Schools involved in the campaign ­— sponsored by TK Maxx and Homesense which have provided funding to each school ­— are also organising workshops with expert guest speakers, .

Ann Butler, Business Manager at Westhoughton High School said: “The students at Westhoughton High School are incredibly passionate about the environment and are always thinking of new ways in which they can become more eco-friendly. Having recently switched to a new catering company, Aspens, we felt this was an opportune moment to make wider-changes across the school. Our eco-committee, run by a team of students, felt that the Plastic Pioneers campaign was the perfect opening to reduce single-use plastics at school. We’re really excited to see how things progress over the coming months and our pupils are proud to be one of the first schools joining the campaign and doing their bit to tackle this world-wide issue.”

Natalie Bayliss, Creative Partner at Hubbub, which is leading the Plastic Pioneers campaign, said each school involved has been coming up with ways to cut down on single-use plastic.

“Pupils up and down the country have devised some brilliant ideas - from cutting out plastic in canteens to experimenting with alternatives to plastic prizes at school events,” she said.

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