Pictured at the presentation of a prize of a trip to Sweden and a E1,000 cheque are Helena Fox (teacher), John Callan (Former principal), Sarah Cronin, Clare McQuillan, Michael Hodgins, Volvo Car Ireland, Clare Ward, Cllr. Neil O’Connor, Catherine McGuinness and Mary Geraghty (teacher).

24 September 2002: Our Lady’s Secondary School, Monaghan is the winner of the 2002 Volvo Practical Environmental Projects for Schools (PEPS) Awards. An exciting trip to Sweden for the winning team is the major part of their prize.

The winning team and two teachers will spend four days in Gothenburg in Sweden towards the end of September where they will take part in the first International Volvo Young Environmental Awards, involving schools from all over the world. Volvo in Gothenburg will host them during their Swedish visit.

Their project "Recycling In Our Lady’s" looked at cutting down on waste production in the School and recycling waste from the school and local community. They used a number of innovative ideas, as teacher Mary Geraghty explains: "Each week in environmental studies class the students were set a different task, such as making paper logs from waste paper, which were then sold," she says. "We also used old fruit and vegetables from local shops for the transition year compost heap and collected cans from local restaurants and sent them for recycling."

Second prize in the Volvo PEPS Awards also went to Our Lady’s Secondary School, Monaghan for a project developing ponds in the school grounds.

Columba College in Killucan, Co. Westmeath won third, fourth and fifth prizes for building a footpath, planting a flower bed and organising an Environmental Action Day. The sixth prize was awarded to Our Lady’s School, Terenure, Co. Dublin for a composting project.

Volvo launched the PEPS Awards in 1998, reflecting the Volvo’s pioneering role in addressing environmental issues in the motor industry. The principal objective of the programme is to encourage schools and pupils to look for ways to enhance their local environment.

This is the fifth year of the awards scheme and once again it received an overwhelming response. Entries for stage one were received from all over the country covering the categories of: Biodiversity, Consumption, Energy, Transport or Water.

Qualifying projects were awarded grants, with a first prize of E1,000, second prize of E260 and runner up prizes of E100.

Overall winner, "Recycling In Our Lady’s" was described by the judges as ‘A well thought through project with a good involvement of pupils.’