Northampton College students impressed leading experts with their ideas for a sustainable future at a major regional competition.

Level 1 Media and A Level students pitched their ideas during The Green Future Challenge this month in front of Stephen Frampton MBE, Founder of Sustainability Support for Further Education (SS4FE) and Paul Thompson, Employment and Skills Manager for the South Midlands Authorities.

The two groups of Northampton students were joint runners-up, after facing stiff competition from students from Milton Keynes College, Cambridge Regional College, Moulton College and Barnfield College.

Andrea Brown, Assistant Principal of Northampton College, said: “Sustainability runs through everything we do at Northampton College and we run a wide range of initiatives to promote the green agenda which our students are heavily involved in and have led to us winning top regional and national awards in recent years.

“It was fantastic to see how our students responded to the challenge of researching and planning a solution to a local sustainability issue for The Green Future Challenge.

“They came up with innovative ideas which they presented in a very professional manner to a panel of highly respected experts. We were also very proud of how inclusive our students’ presentation were.”

The Level 1 Media students focussed on the issue of the 5 million vapes which are discarded in the UK every week. These disposable items contain rechargeable lithium batteries, which, if properly recycled, could be converted into products such as power banks, iPhone batteries, car batteries, and e-bike batteries. The students proposed creating a used vape collection system involving authorities equipped to safely recycle these materials into valuable items. The proposed approach is designed to reduce waste, minimise environmental hazards and contribute to creating cost-effective solutions for individuals, businesses, and institutions such as colleges, which could utilise these batteries for IT and electrical equipment, reducing their environmental footprint.

To tackle overconsumption and reduce the amount of clothing going to landfill, Northampton College’s A Level students proposed the creation of a trade store where users trade pre-loved clothes they no longer want for credits for their new purchases, instead of paying with money.

Giving his view on the presentations from the students, Paul Thompson said: “What impressed me was the quality of the content from the teams, the way they worked together and the level of organisation they showed.”

The judges chose the team from Milton Keynes College as the overall winners, for their idea on how to encourage recycling on campus and reduce the use of single use plastics with a rewards scheme inspired by the German ‘Pfand’ ­­– or deposit – system.

Find out more about courses available at Northampton College by visiting www.northamptoncollege.ac.uk