The Problem

The scourge of litter and a lack of

environmental care and awareness

Neighbourhoods and Plenty of talk. Not

beauty spots spoiled enough action!

Economic impact of Psychological effect on

litter on communities children “living in litter”

Litter normalised People lack tools

among certain groups to take action

Big clean-ups but no

Communities and
small-scale regular
families feel powerless
activity

Disconnect with nature Lack of belief in the power

and lack of environmental of small actions to impact
stewardship on global issues

Anxiety in kids caused by overload of

bad environmental news without an
action-based outlet

RECENT HEADLINES
Council received nearly 5,000 litter There’s been a 50% surge in
complaints last year requests to deal with illegal dumping

Communities scourged by littering as council

‘Closed’ beaches left in ‘deplorable’ state
‘alarmed’ at ‘drastic increase’ of illegal rubbish

‘Dramatic increase’ in littering and dumping Ten Kilos of rubbish per person left at site
Programme
Overview
Picker Pals is an integrated content and activity
environmental programme designed for
primary school children and their families.
Litter-picking activity is motivated through
immersion in a Picker Pals story world and a Picker
Pack containing adult and child litter-picking tools,
taken home by a different student every week.

Irish communities care about litter and see it as an

area where real action has real effects.
Picker Pals gives schools and communities a
starting point, engaging children at a younger age
than other similar action programmes.
Picker Pals is led by the children of the family,
giving them a sense of ownership of their
action and responsibility for their
environmental impact.

“If we can change the minds of the kids we

have a chance to turn around this crisis of
waste in the environment.”
Patrick Jackson, Picker Pals Creator and Director
How it Works
1 Each pupil receives eco-storybook Picker
Power! and the Funbook, a collection
of environmental educational activities.
These books tell the story of the Picker Pals
characters who battle against litter and other
environmental hazards.

2 Students discuss the content of

the story and how the issues are
relevant to their own lives and locality.

3 Students complete the worksheets and

sing the Picker Pals song.

4 The teacher or a vetted Pickers Pals

ambassador introduces students to the
Picker Pack, containing an adult and a child
picker-upper, bags, gloves, high-vis vests
and safety information.

5 One student each week

takes home the Picker Pack.
 6 Motivated by the Picker Pals
characters and activities, children
do a litter-pick in their local area,
working with an adult at all times to ensure
they are safe and properly supervised.

7 Students complete a report that

goes into the Picker Pals Class
Album and do a presentation, telling their
classmates the story of their litter-picking
adventure.

8 The class creates a display

wall with pictures and other
creative records of their group’s
litter-picking activity.

9 The students learn what other Picker

Pals around the world are doing
to clean up their networks and have
opportunities to communicate with them.

10 Some classes will

organise school-wide or
community-wide activities.

“It’s been a great success

and it was really easy
to run the programme.
All the material was given to me. The characters of
the Picker Pals world, living on a flying island really
sparked their interest and the children connected
with them. They wanted to see how they could
make the world better.
Claire Johns, 1st Class Teacher, Dublin
 The Picker Pack
The Heart of the Picker Pals Programme
Made from durable, waterproof fabric upcycled from old dinghy sails. These are donated to us by
local sailing clubs.
Manufactured in the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun, providing employment and training to local
people. This fabric, which we are only too happy to divert from landfill, is perfect for our needs.
Every unique Picker Pack is an important part of the Picker Pals story as we tackle waste head on.

Gloves
An adult and child
pair to protect those
litter-picking hands.

Picker-uppers
High quality large and
small picker-uppers.
Only the best for the
Picker Pals!

Bags
Replenished every
time the Picker Pack
goes out on a mission.

High-vis
vests
Safety Child and adult vests
for visibility, safety
information and fun.

leaflet.
Keeping our Picker Pals safe on
their litter-picking adventures
is our number one priority.

“The Picker Pack is at the heart of the programme and is what

makes Picker Pals unique. Kids are so proud to bring it home
and lead their adult on a litter-picking adventure.”
Patrick Jackson. Picker Pals Creator and Director.
 Why it Matters We are facing a
We are facing a global crisis of waste in the global crisis of waste
environment and every part of the natural
world is affected. We urgently need to find
real, practical solutions to this crisis. Raising
in the environment
awareness is an essential part of the solution
and Picker Pals gives young people the tools
and positive motivation to steward their local
environments.
For most children, litter is the easiest to
understand manifestation of the ecological
crisis we face. They see it around the streets
they walk on, the parks they play in, and the
beaches they swim at.
Children are being repeatedly told, at
home, at school, and through the media, of
enormous and destructive environmental
changes that they themselves have little
power over.
Picker Pals allows children to actually do
something to participate in and lead change
in their own families and local areas.
By becoming active in this way, children are
joining the community of environmentally
active people, leading to a lifetime of
positive participation.

Ireland has signed up to the Sustainable

Development Goals and has recently released
its SDG Implementation Plan. Picker Pals
addresses eight of these goals, advancing the
government’s commitment to its own waste
reduction and waste prevention priorities,
as well as the EU Circular Economy Package,
Plastic Strategy and Single-Use Plastic
legislation.
What People
are Saying
“The streets around my house
had tonnes and tonnes of litter. I
found loads of plastic bottles and
fish and chip boxes.”
Picker Pal, aged 7

“The picker pack makes it so easy. As a

parent you don’t have to think about it
at all. Once they get the pack, they’re the
boss. They have the picker pack and they
get to take their adult out!”
Father of Picker Pals 1st Class student, Dublin

“The idea of him littering himself is almost

unthinkable because he realises the “It makes me feel
consequences that it can have. At the same good because
time, one of the other real benefits that he’s it looks
shared with his brother is that there is a better without
very direct impact that we can have in terms the litter.”
of doing something for your community.” Picker Pal, aged 8
Picker Pals parent, Sutton
 “Another thing she’s done is that
she’s put a stop to us buying
plastic sandwich bags. Since
doing the Picker Pals project we
have reduced our waste in the
family quite dramatically.”
Picker Pals mother, 2nd Class student

“After each weekend we always took

the time on Monday morning to talk
about whoever had the picker pack
home with them and it was really
great for the children to stand up and
they felt really proud of everything
they had picked up.”
1st Class teacher, Howth, Dublin

“He was so excited and he took his picker pack

and they really enjoyed it. I could feel that they
were really proud of themselves. We looked
at the litter and even took a picture and
when we went home we talked about what
we had collected. We had a really nice day
and I actually had to go to Woodies and buy a
picker-upper for the family.”
Mother of Picker Pals 1st Class student, Dublin

“It’s been a great success and

it was really easy to run the
programme. All the material
was given to me. Every Friday
it was a really exciting thing
to see which child was going
to get to take home the picker
pack home.”
Picker Pal teacher, Dublin
 Coronavirus
COVID-19
In order to minimise the risk of infection from Coronavirus COVID-19, Picker Pals
need to take the following measures as well as the normal safe litter-picking
measures as described in the Picker Pals Safety Information. Government
regulations and school policy should always be followed.

At times, it may be necessary to delay litter-picking activity

and Picker Pack sharing in accordance with Government and
school policy.

Before Picking
The Picker Pack and litter-pickers should be cleaned with disinfectant spray
before they leave the school.
Families should use their own gloves where possible. If the gloves and hi-vis
vest from the Picker Pack are used, they should be washed before returning
them to the school.

While Picking
2m
Picker Pals should maintain social distancing (a 2-metre distance) from
people outside their family at all times.

Wear gloves and do not pick up any items of PPE.

Always use the litter-pickers and don’t touch anything you pick up.

Dispose of all bags of litter immediately.

Parents are asked to use a disinfectant spray on the picker-uppers and

Picker Pack after use and before returning it to the school.
Families should wash the gloves and hi-vis vests, if they have been used,
before returning them to the school.

4 There should be a 4-day delay between the return of the Picker Pack to the
days school and its reissue to another family.