The artwork of two local schoolchildren is now on show on the roads of Bath and North East Somerset after they won a competition to design a new look for a food recycling lorry.
Bath & North East Somerset Council ran the competition in the autumn for primary and secondary school pupils, which asked children to come up with a design that promoted the importance of recycling food for the lorry that collects food waste from schools and businesses.
Oscar, 13, from Beechen Cliff School, and Sebastian, 9, from Moorlands Junior School came up with the winning designs which were chosen from 183 entries and show that food is recycled into electricity.
As well as having their designs professionally adapted for the vehicle, the children were also rewarded with a prize of visiting the Kubiak Creative studio to see how their designs were transformed into professional graphics.
Councillor Martin Veal (Conservative, Bathavon North), Cabinet Member for Community Services said: “The designs that the children have come up with are really eye catching. It’s great to see the younger generation getting on board with food recycling, understanding it and taking the importance home to their parents.
“As a nation the UK wastes around seven million tonnes of food every year, and if we recycled all of our wasted food in Bath and North East Somerset we could create enough electricity to power 1,140 homes for a year.
“It’s really important that everyone gets involved and does their bit to recycle as much as possible to help the environment and reduce the amount of rubbish going into landfill.”
Recycled food is made into electricity and fertilisers, but if food gets sent to landfill, it rots down and gives off harmful gases that contribute to climate change.
Each tonne of recycled food collected in Bath and North East Somerset generates around 300 kilowatts of electricity, which is enough to power an average flat screen TV for 5 years.
The Council provides food recycling collections for residents, schools and businesses.
To find out more or to order a container, contact Council Connect on [email protected] or 01225 39 40 41, or visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/foodwaste.
