Over 350 primary school children of the Andrei Saguna Secondary School of Deva took part on Tuesday in a show in which they displayed their inventiveness, but also their care for the environment on the occasion of the parade of costumes made of recyclable materials, an event where the schoolyard became, for a few tens of minutes, a very special fashion catwalk.

Plastic bottles turned into dresses and crowns, egg caskets, painted green, gave birth to a fierce dinosaur, and paper and cardboard, handcrafted at home, together with mothers or grandmothers, helped girls become beautiful and elegant princesses.

Not wanting to be outshined, the boys, using newspapers, advertising magazines, plastic cups or large cardboard boxes, became robots of all kinds, soldiers and even beekeepers.

All the costumes were presented to the schoolmates, parents and teachers during the long recess, when the parade of costumes made by the children was organised in the schoolyard.

'There were 360 children who took part in this event, primary and kindergarten students. There were a lot of costumes, which shows that there is a lot of creativity in the school. The children had enough time to prepare this parade, together with parents and teachers. I intend to continue this kind of events and to make a larger parade, in which we will involve many more schools in the town of Deva. Educating children for a clean environment is very necessary, especially nowadays, when we see that nature needs and asks for our help,' teacher Maria Angela Popovici, the main organiser of the event, told AGERPRES.

Extremely excited to participate in this event, the children proved to everyone that they are very talented and patient when it comes to projects that arouse their interest.

Among them is Catalin, who is holding a Nerf pistol and wearing a suit made of paper. 'I've turned into a soldier and I am wearing camouflage. I used a few bags and newspapers for the suit. My grandmother helped me make it. I like it,' says the child.

A little girl named Maria, who wore a costume full of colourful small flowers, also confesses that she was helped by her grandmother and mother to make it. 'For my costume I used garbage bags, many of them coloured. I bought them, because I didn't have so many at home. My mother and grandmother helped me make this costume,' says Maria.

Robert proved to be just as creative, putting a green box on his shoulders, in which used batteries would be collected. 'I worked for about two hours on this costume, together with my mother. I used cardboard, sheets of paper and then I coloured it', explains the third-grade student.

Eduard Andrei also proved to be ingenious, who, at the age of 10, designed, with the help of his mother, a unique costume made of disposable surgical masks.

'My mother came up with the idea. I don't know how many I've used, but I know that I've bought a lot of packages. We worked for about four days on this costume, helped by my mother, and some ideas came to us along the way,' says the child.

Last but not least, the audience noticed a white dress made of strips of paper by an extremely casual girl, who already sees herself as a future fashion designer.

'Today I've dressed up as a paper princess. I made the costume on Saturday, together with my mother. It took about three-four-five hours, but I was patient because I like to make costumes, to create,' Maria confesses.

And Razvan says that the idea for his costume made up of newspapers came to him when he had more free time that he didn't want to spend on the phone: 'I worked on this costume for about three hours, together with my mother. The idea with newspapers came to me because I had nothing to do in my free time. Rather than playing on the phone...'.

The Andrei Saguna Secondary School, the largest in Deva, has also held the title of 'eco school' for over 20 years, and its teachers strive to show this on any occasion.

'We wanted to celebrate the International Children's Day, which was on Monday, and also to further the tradition of over 20 years since we have been an eco-school. The little ones are eager to build, to create. Parents support us tremendously and we thank them for this. We will continue along this line, because such an event enters the collective memory of the family of our school. The children want to do such actions, and we will be with them,' said Andrei Saguna Principal Alina Tarnu.

According to organisers, the activities and projects that focus on the idea of reusing recyclable materials are important to develop children's creativity and explain to them the importance of protecting the environment.

Statistics show that over one billion packages with the SGR deposit-return symbol were collected in the first three months of this year, and the return rate was 88%, according to data published in April by RetuRo, the administrator of the SGR deposit-return system. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Sorin Blada; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)