AN upcycling youngster from Frinton has encouraged classmates to collect waste plastic so it can be turned into something useful.

A St Philomena’s Catholic School pupil approached acting headteacher Neil Whitfield last year with an idea of filling plastic bottles with waste plastic to be reused.

He spoke to Jane Reis, the school’s green team leader, and she researched companies that specialised in this.

The green team, made up of eight pupils at the school, then launched their new Ecobricks project last month.

Ecobricks are reusable building blocks created by packing clean and dry used plastic into a plastic bottle, helping to remove plastic from the environment.

Following their weekly lunchtime meeting, during which they have been making their own ecobricks, the green team decided to get the whole school involved.

Mrs Reis said they explained the idea of the project during an assembly and afterwards the school split into teams and worked together to start making more bricks.

She added: “It is an amazing idea for the children to understand the importance of doing something with our plastic waste. We are very proud to be supporting this idea.”