WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The cherry blossoms on Public Square are about ready to bloom, and folks at the Luzerne County Visitors Bureau hope it's beauty such as this that catches the attention of visitors and not litter.
Earlier this year, the bureau put together a contest and asked students to submit anti-littering yard signs to help.
"We got over 100 submissions which we were thrilled with," explained Theodore Wampole with Visit Luzerne County. "The idea was when we did this, was to raise awareness, especially in the schools about the littering problem we have in the area, how do we combat that? How do we fight that?"
"Don't Be a Litterbug!" is the message on the sign that took 1st place in the contest.
"That was put together by a first-grade class down at Freeland Elementary, and it had 25 kids that were a part of that. Each kid had a hand in part of that design of that piece of art, and they used recycled material," explained Wampole.
"Don't Litter, Think Better" took second place. Newswatch 16 spoke with the 10th-grade students behind this design in January at Hanover Area High School.
"Obviously it's an anti-littering campaign, and if you think about it for so many different reasons, it's a better idea not to litter. It's better to wait and find a better and proper way to dispose of whatever you have," said sophomore Amelia Joubert back in January.
The other two winning signs are from students at the Wilkes-Barre Area Creative and Performing Arts Academy.
Each of the winning schools will receive a $250 gift card, and the signs will be printed and distributed as soon as the visitor's bureau finds a sponsor to help fund it.
"They will make people more aware of the things that they shouldn't be throwing on the ground on top of that we're going to have great artwork that the people will see from the kids in the county," added Wampole.
For more information on the County's anti-littering efforts, you can visit www.PickUpNEPA.com.
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