De Laak from Wamel wins West Maas en Waal Children's Municipal Council 2023
On November 16, the sixth Children's Municipal Council of the municipality of West Maas en Waal took place. This year's theme was "A green West Maas en Waal, that's class!" Students from five schools presented their plans and then voted on the winning idea.
Great interest
More than 100 fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, brothers, sisters, council members, and other interested parties were present in the Council Chamber. From the public gallery, they witnessed an exciting meeting. Together with some 600 spectators at home, they saw De Laak from Wamel win with "throwing away waste becomes fun."
Disposing of waste becomes enjoyable
The students of De Laak want to do something about the litter in places where many young people gather. By pimping up trash cans in these places with fun graffiti designs, they hope to achieve the Holle Bolle Gijs effect. Young people are more inclined to throw their trash in a fun-looking trash can.
They don't come up with the graffiti designs themselves. Every elementary school in West Maas en Waal is asked to hold a design competition at the school. They then submit two designs. Graffiti artist Morris will pimp the trash cans. The trash cans are provided by the municipality of West Maas en Waal.
Exciting meeting with a reward of €5,000
This year, five primary schools registered for the Children's Municipal Council: De Leeuwenkuil (Beneden-Leeuwen), De Wijzer (Beneden-Leeuwen), De Mariaschool (Boven-Leeuwen), De Oversteek (Dreumel), and De Laak (Wamel).
168 children from grade 8 came up with a project based on this year's theme, 'A green West Maas en Waal, that's classy!'. They spent the past few weeks developing this project further. During the Children's Municipal Council, a delegation from each class presented their projects. The young council members needed three rounds of voting to reach a decision.
The chairman of the municipal council, Mayor Vincent van Neerbos, presented the winning school with a check worth €5,000. The project will be implemented during this school year.