Primary pupils Billy Green and Harriett Elliott have proved their powers of persuasion by being picked as overall winner and a runner-up respectively in a contest to help Somerset families recycle food waste into clean green power.
Billy and Harriett, both aged 9 from Preston Primary School in Yeovil, were among thousands of children from all over the county who were invited to design posters promoting recycling through Somerset’s new Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility and its billions of “burping bacteria”.
Other winners in South Somerset were:
• Marcus Pike, aged 6, and Harriet Wood, 7, Chilthorne Domer Church School.
• Daniel Baker, 8, Greenfylde C of E First School.
• Milo Higgins, 9, Kingsbury Episcopi Primary.
• Eco Club combined entry, St Margaret’s Primary, Tintinhull.
• Rebecca Pick, 8, Alf Norrie, 6, Rozália Moore, 10, and Emerson Roffey, 10, Lovington C of E Primary.
As well as the best posters winning green prizes of eco-educational activities for each pupil’s class, winning designs will feature in a Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) publicity campaign next year to prompt families to recycle more food waste and cut costly and polluting landfill.
SWP managing director Steve Read said: “Colourful, creative and committed to recycling; these posters show that the next generation is taking an inspiring lead to help everyone in Somerset avoid landfill and generate clean, green power. They want each family to put every scrap of unavoidable food waste into their kerbside container to feed the AD facility’s burping bacteria.”
The contest was part of a new educational pack encouraging children to become experts on the science of the £10 million AD facility built by recycling company Viridor near Bridgwater. It will turn all of Somerset’s household food waste into methane and burn it to generate electricity.
Part of the pack was produced by the duo behind the worldwide bestselling Horrible Science book series, writer Nick Arnold and artist Tony De Saulles. The SWP-commissioned pack was created by the Carymoor Environmental Trust educational charity, based near Castle Cary.
Details of the pack, competition, winners and the AD facility are available at www.somersetwaste.gov.uk