Some 175 pupils helped kick off a new environmental awareness programme for youths by picking up trash along a waterway on Friday.

The campaign, called Waterways Clean-up @ North West, was officially launched by Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah at Lower Seletar Reservoir.

Armed with metal tongs and plastic gloves, the pupils from Huamin Primary School in Yishun combed the area for trash like plastic bottles and food packaging.

Jointly organised by the North West Community Development Council and the Waterways Watch Society (WWS) and rolled out since July this year, the two-part programme with 10 participating schools consists an assembly talk by WWS volunteers on Singapore's waterways and a litter-picking session for students at Lower Seletar Reservoir or Yishun pond.

The nine-month programme is expected to reach out to 10,000 primary and secondary students through assembly talks and 550 students, who will take part in the litter-picking programme by March 2014.