Student wins Zero Hero challenge with selfie-themed video
With Freshers’ Week underway, one student who began the term with an impressive start was Alexander Deiry of Birmingham City University, who scooped a big prize of £500 worth of Amazon vouchers.
He won the vouchers by submitting a winning video to help encourage students across the city to reduce, reuse and recycle.
The Zero Hero Challenge invited students studying in Birmingham to submit videos they had created to encourage students to reduce their waste.
Alexander’s winning film stood out as it focused on the idea of students taking a selfie as they threw items away at special ‘WasteWatch’ points across the city. The video was entered via the social media platform, YouTube and combined photos of Birmingham city centre with animated footage.
Cllr. Lisa Trickett explained why it’s so important to get young people involved in helping to make Birmingham a zero waste to landfill city by 2040.
She said: "Freshers’ Week is the ideal time to remind students of the importance of recycling while they settle into their new routines. Birmingham has some of the brightest student minds in the country and we know many are already living ‘Zero Hero’ waste reducing lifestyles.
"All the entrants to our competition made videos that showed their passion for reducing waste, but Alexander just pipped the rest to the post. I’m delighted to have awarded him his £500 Amazon vouchers, which he’s already said he’ll be spending on media equipment. A big well done to everyone who took part."
The two runners up were Manisha Kaur Rathore and Karuna Aga. All videos can be found by searching online for Birmingham City Council’s YouTube channel. For more information on the Zero Hero campaign – including handy hints and downloads to help you save money while you reduce waste – visit birmingham.gov.uk/cleanerbrum
Background notes
The Zero Hero campaign has been running across Birmingham since mid-2016, and is part of the Cleaner, Greener Streets campaign. Other parts of the campaign have included: a pop-up roadshow to give out residents’ packs, pop-up events at the three universities in the city, a business pledge reel and resource efficiency pack, specially designed school resources to be used in classrooms across the city, and a photoshoot to include images of real residents in all the marketing imagery.
The campaign aims to encourage everyone who lives or works in the city to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible, with the aim to make Birmingham a zero waste to landfill city by 2040.
