Redbridge students empowered to help shape a greener borough through Youth Eco Skills Festival
Published: 09 July 2026
Redbridge students empowered to help shape a greener borough through Youth Eco Skills Festival
Redbridge students passionate about their local environment were at the heart of a recent Youth Eco-Skills Festival aimed at inspiring and empowering young people to help create a more sustainable borough.
The Redbridge Youth Eco-Skills Festival brought together students from 11 local secondary schools to take part in the interactive day long festival led by Redbridge Council.
It’s the third year the council has run the event, continuing to build on the success of the last one.
Aimed at young people interested in tackling climate change, or who were already leading
advocates in their school for greener living, the festival gave students a platform to voice ideas and share green achievements, whilst broadening their eco-skills and knowledge through workshop activities and discussions with environmental experts.
The event took place at Redbridge Central Library in early July and kicked off with an environmental film about how the school community at Woodford County High School For Girls is helping tackle climate change.
Specially created for the Eco-Skills Festival, the film placed positive action and taking environmental responsibility at the heart of its messaging. It explored sustainability-related work taking place at the school, green actions adopted by its students, and the importance of tackling climate change.
As part of the action-packed day students at the festival networked and participated in eco-workshops, including:
· ‘Climate Literacy 101’ - An exploration into climate change through quizzes, activities, and discussion led by Jen Gale, Founder of Sustainable(ish)
· ‘Power Up Your Repairs’ - A hands-on workshop organised by Team Repair, with the East London Waste Authority delivering the session. Students got to fix a games console and explore why repairing, instead of discarding broken items is an important way to reduce waste.
· ‘Cook Smart, Waste Less’ - Led by professional chef Mark Borrell, students examined how food choices and cooking skills can help reduce waste and support sustainability. They even had a go at cooking simple recipes!
Feeling inspired from taking part in the ‘Cook Smart, Waste Less’ workshop, Gandi a student from Chadwell Heath Academy, said: “Learning how to cook without lots of waste is important because it’s up to all of us to do what we can to preserve the world and look after it. I really enjoyed learning how to make chow mein, which is a great recipe for using up vegetables and meats you might have left in the fridge, so it doesn’t go to waste. I picked up lots of great tips and skills from the chef which I can use. It was a great experience for us.”
Evana, a student from Woodford County High School For Girls, took part in ‘Power Up Your Repairs’ and said: “The workshop was a brilliant way to learn the environmental impact of discarding things, before trying to repair it. In the session we were given a small handheld game and asked to work out the problem with it. We were then given instructions to fix it with some basic repair skills. It was really fun, and I learnt more about how electronic items work. The workshop has made me think about the amount of waste generated when people throw things away. I’ll definitely be trying to fix things first if it’s broken, rather than throw it away.”
As part of the festival students also took part in The Climate Garden project - a special art led workshop from Redbridge Council. Using recycled and reusable materials, students created their own sculptural flowers, transforming everyday waste into artwork that symbolises positive environmental actions to boost biodiversity in borough and help local wildlife to thrive.
The artwork will be on public display at Ilford Exchange, between 10am and 4pm on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 August to celebrate nature, and sustainability.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Neighbourhoods, Cllr Jo Blackman, who attended the festival, said: “It was great to meet with the students and see how committed they are to improving our environment and reducing emissions. Hopefully, students will have left feeling even more empowered and inspired to play an active role in creating a sustainable future for our borough. I know lots of them are already doing brilliant and impressive environmental work through their schools and the festival is about supporting and nurturing that enthusiasm. It is critical that young people are at the heart of our efforts to tackle the climate crisis.”
Redbridge’s Youth Eco-Skills Festival is an extension of the Council’s on-going work with local communities, including its young people, to tackle the climate emergency, and create a greener and more biodiverse borough to live in.
It also supports the borough’s commitment to young people as England’s first UNICEF UK accredited Child Friendly Borough. Redbridge was given the highly sought after accreditation earlier this year for its deep and continuing work to raise children’s voices and design services with young people in mind, to create a borough that works for young people.
Find out more about Child Friendly Redbridge: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/childfriendly/
Want to know more about Redbridge’s new Climate Change Strategy and how the borough is tackling the climate emergency? Head to: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/media/bcjdiuyt/lbr-climate-change-strategy-2026-30.pdf
