Mrs Baggit is back. The campaign to keep Cornwall tidy is to be relaunched.

In 1988 Cornish school children entered a competition to invent a character to encourage people to take their litter home. The competition was won by five year old Jenna Robbins with Mrs Baggit, whose image then took up residence in many of lay-bys, where she can still be seen today, putting across her simple message.

Nineteen years later, things are not that simple. Now schoolchildren are taught that, unless rubbish is treated as a resource, the future environment will be damaged.

SITA Cornwall, who has been contracted to by the county council to manage the county's waste, is asking our school children to think again. What would Mrs. Baggit's children say today? What would they be called? And how would they look today to best get their message across?

SITA Cornwall is running a competition with Cornish school children, aged 5-8, 9-12 and 13-15, to design three young characters to encourage everyone all to reduce, reuse and recycle the rubbish that which is enough for everyone to fill Truro Cathedral in their lifetime!

Louis de Poncheville, SITA Cornwall's general manager said: "I know that schoolchildren understand a lot about the need to recycle and reduce waste for the sake of the environment and we want to capture their knowledge and imaginations in some designs to encourage adults to do their best too."

Entry forms for each age range are being made available for schools on their information exchange web site.

The closing date is Tuesday May 29.

Entries will be displayed and judged on the SITA Cornwall stand at the Royal Cornwall Show and the characters will be used to promote reducing, recycling and reusing across Cornwall.

Individual winners will receive a fine bicycle and their whole class will be invited to a trip to the Eden Project.

Cornwall County Council's Mrs Baggit campaign won them the Tidy Britain, Queen Mother's Award, which still hangs in the entrance to County Hall.

The winner Jenna Robbins thenb went to Gerrans School, where there is a plaque to celebrate her win, which includes her artwork.