New Weapon in Litter War!

Students Reddy and Tommy with Mayor of Rochdale Ashley Dearnley and Mayoress, and Cllr Ann Metcalfe

In the drive to make litter history in Rochdale, the Council, in collaboration with two students from Hopwood Hall College, have produced a video in the war against offenders. Entitled the ‘L’ Files, the video was produced by local students Tom James and Reddy Lenge, who are both in their final year of a BTEC National Diploma media course at Hopwood Hall College in Middleton.

Tom and Reddy said: “We wanted to make a video that would make people stop and think. We undertook extensive research including spending two days at Encams; (who are behind the ‘Keep Britain Tidy Campaign’) in Exeter. The video itself took over 3 weeks to film and then another month to edit before we were happy with the finished product. It uses a cross-section of local people in a variety of everyday situations and highlights the various penalties that can be given to offenders including a maximum fine of £2,500”

It was previewed at a Showcase Event held at Touchstones in Rochdale on Thursday June 9th in front of an invited audience including Mayor Councillor Ashley Dearnley and Tara Dumas, Waste Minimisation Manager at Rochdale MBC, (who had commissioned the video). After watching it she said:

“This video is a credit to the students, they have taken the brief and developed it for the youth market, traditionally the hardest sector to target. Litter is still a problem and we need to inform people that they will be subjected to a wide variety of fines, as well as obtaining a Criminal Record if offenders are found guilty in a magistrates court.”

Howard Holt, Subject Lecturer at the college added: “We have had a great deal of success with this type of project in recent years.  In collaborating with external agencies, our students are placed in a genuine ‘real-life’ work situation where expectations are high.  They have to use high-level communication skills in their dealings with a client and deliver a suitable product on-time and to a specified standard.  I am also very grateful to those organisations that give their time and provide the valuable opportunities for the students to develop their skills and experience in this way.”