This is the way to save the earth, pupils tell MPs

Ten ideas were outlined to politicians including Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Hilary Benn, the former Environment Secretary, with a team from City of Leeds School voted best overall solution for Yoob IT, their plan to set up an employment agency providing jobs for young people supporting the older community.

The scheme will also help counter poor perceptions of some young people.

The runners-up were by Splish Splash, from St Joseph's Catholic College in Bradford, who plan to raise money to combat pollution and waste and supply clean water after developing cartoon characters for a publishing and media initiative, and Switch Green, a team from Skipton Girls' High School, which wants to cut electricity wasted by household devices left on standby.

The other ideas include a plan to reduce waste in the NHS by recycling safe and "in date" drugs for use in developing nations and a scheme to counter unnecessarily negative body images among young women.

The event, which took place in Parliament's Grand Committee Room, was put on by Partners in Innovation, a Bradford company also behind a school, and was hosted by Mr Benn, MP for Leeds Central and Rosie Winterton, MP for Doncaster Central, former Minister for Yorkshire.

The Solutions for the Planet programme aims to develop ties between entrepreneurs, teachers and pupils. This year the programme inspired thousands of young people in more than 50 secondary schools to generate hundreds of ideas.

The ideas included new ways of protecting the environment and stopping child abuse.

They were developed with support from experts at a Young People's Conference which was held in Leeds earlier this year. As a result 55 teams were selected to explain their ideas at events in the universities of York, Hull, Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds, with ten selected to go to Westminster.

David Ross, chief executive of Partners in Innovation, said: "Each and every idea that this programme helps create is a winner.

"However, if we do not celebrate and reward innovation there will be no reason to innovate.

"This event was a celebration of the creative potential of young people and it was a delight to see business leaders, MPs, teachers and parents sharing in and understanding the importance of innovation – new and better ways of doing things – and learning that sustainability is not just about environmental issues."