HCM CITY — Students from Tuyên Quang and Lào Cai provinces swept the first prizes in the Green Creativeness Contest held to unearth outstanding environmental protection ideas and models.

Three fourth-grade students from Đăng Châu Primary School in Tuyên Quang designed a steel boat with an oil spill-absorption and -filter system after they had been taught about the influence of oil spills on the environment.

They used bagasse for the filtration.

They also made a model of a solar-powered water treatment tank.

Two high-school students from Văn Bàn High School in Lào Cai Province made an instrument that measures water level and speed, automatically lights up at night, catches hazardous insects and warns of danger in spillways.

They hope to popularise the instrument in northern provinces to ensure safety for teachers and students during the rain-flood season.

Twenty-eight other teams won excellence awards.

The contest was meant for students aged 6 to 30.

Nearly 1,500 entries had been received by the Việt Nam Environment Administration, which organised the contest together with the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union’s Central Committee. FrieslandCampina Việt Nam was the main sponsor.

The entries pertained to energy saving, environment-friendly products, biological conservation, and solid, liquid and gaseous waste recycling and treatment.

Some also suggested policy and education solutions for environment protection and IT application in environment management.

The contest was part of a programme called For Việt Nam’s Green Environment carried out by the administration and the company since last year. —VNS