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BAHRAIN'S youngsters are so keen on saving the planet that they are recycling at home, at school and even when they go out with their families.
That was the message when the winners of an environmental art competition gathered at the Crowne Plaza to receive their prizes.
More than 200 schoolchildren from the kingdom's primary schools entered the contest organised by Recycling for Charity, which provides special containers to communities and organisations where recyclables can be deposited for processing and sale with a percentage of the proceeds going to charity.
The young artists had to come up with a picture on the theme 'Your Planet Needs You' to mark World Environment Day, which took place on Friday.
GulfWeekly exclusively announced the winners as Alsayed Alsayed Majed, in first place, Zainab Mohamed Ali Hamidan, second, and Fatima Ahmed Saad, in third place. This week they saw their pictures, alongside a selection of the shortlisted entries, go on show at the Crowne Plaza.
And in a special ceremony at the hotel they met officials from the British Embassy, which provided the prizes, Recycling for Charity and Crowne Plaza general manager Ivor Prestwood who said: "We're delighted to be involved with this competition and particularly pleased to see how aware the children are of the environmental issues and how import recycling and conservation are."
Rupert Potter, deputy head of mission at the British Embassy, also paid tribute to the children's efforts as he presented them with gift vouchers for Toys R Us and a special prize of BD500 to Alsayed's teachers who attended the ceremony on behalf of Umm Al Hassam Primary Boys' School.
Alsayed said he was excited by the competition and the chance to use recycled items to make his winning picture, the youngster added that he recycles both at home and at school.
And the parents of little Fatima said she is always drawing and uses recycled items at home to make all sorts of things, they added that her involvement in the art competition has made them more aware of environmental issues and they now plan to start recycling at home.
And Zainab has combined the two as her school, the Al Raja School, is running a recycling competition encouraging pupils to bring in recyclable materials.
Her father Mohammed Hamidan said: "We don't just recycle at home now but wherever we go she is always picking up cans and plastic bottles to take into school, she's always going off with bags full of them."
And Zainab added: "I think it's really important, my picture showed the earth getting very hot and that is not good."
