Children take to the drawing board to combat litter crisis in Milton Keynes parks

More than 200 entries have been received for The Parks Trust Litter Poster Competition, which was open to five to 11-year-olds all over the borough. Children from 29 different schools and three community groups took part.

Now The Parks Trust and the Environment and Waste Team at MK Council have completed the difficult task of whittling down the entries to just ten finalists.

And these posters are being published on The Parks Trust website for the public to judge.

The winning poster will be displayed in parks and public areas across the city. And the young artist also be gifted a set of litter pickers for their school or a session for their class with The Parks Trust’s Outdoor Learning Team.

The closing date for voting is midnight on Sunday, May 16.

The Parks Trust have put out numerous messages during lockdown urging people not to drop litter or to take it home when bins are overflowing.

They have stressed the danger to wildlife and the environment - but still the litter problem has persisted as more and more people use the open spaces.

Sarah Griffiths, outdoor learning and interpretation manager at The Parks Trust said: "Thank you to those teachers who used the litter poster competition as a chance to discuss littering with their students or watched our litter assembly.

"We were especially impressed to hear that some students had been taking part in litter picks as well! Well done to both students and teachers for helping to make MK a better place."

As The Parks Trust has received so many fantastic designs they are hoping to be able to display these at their Howe Park Wood Education Centre when this reopens later in the year.

Visit their website here to see the top ten entries and to vote for your favourite.