Food waste mission for Bridgend County Borough schools

Bridgend County Borough school children have the chance to design a poster to appear on local recycling trucks – thanks to an intergalactic space monkey called Busta.

The recycling mascot is embarking on an important mission to investigate how the county borough’s recycled food waste is transformed into electricity, and he’s inviting all local primary school pupils to join him.

Delivered by Recycle for Wales, in partnership with Bridgend County Borough Council, Wastebuster and Eco-Schools, The Bridgend Food Recycling Mission aims to get all Key Stage 2 students to learn how the county’s recycled food waste is treated at the Agrivert anaerobic digestion plant in Stormy Down to create electricity to power local homes, schools and tourist attractions. Busta launched the mission by visiting several of these attractions to take holiday snaps.

Teachers are being invited to go online to register and download a pack which includes curriculum-linked activities and lesson ideas, and there’s a homework activity as well as the competition for kids. The whole family can also take part in recording their ‘unavoidable food waste’ (food that can’t be eaten but can be recycled such as banana peels and tea bags) in a food diary and discover how much energy could be produced using ‘The Electrogenerator’ – a fun online energy calculator - on the Mission’s website.

It’s simple to recycle your food waste in Bridgend County Borough. Use one of the green bags to line your small brown kitchen caddy and put your food waste in it. When it’s full, tie the bag up and put it in your bigger food recycling caddy outside ready for your weekly collection. Remember that the outside caddy comes with a lockable handle to keep out smells and pests.

Bridgend County Borough residents are already great recyclers – the county borough’s recycling rate currently stands at 68.6 per cent, which is second only to the Isle of Anglesey County Council in Wales.

An impressive 75 per cent of residents recycle their food waste, and last year alone they recycled enough food to power a whole school for four years. A recent survey carried out in the area revealed that most residents recycle their food waste to do their bit for the community and the environment.

When it comes to recycling, Wales’ residents are leading the way with a national recycling rate of 63 per cent, which is the highest in the UK and third in the world.

Busta is being joined on his mission by Recycle for Wales Campaign Manager Catrin Palfrey, who said: “I want to get as many local children to join Captain Busta on this important mission and be in with a chance to win an out of this world prize. I also hope parents, guardians and teachers follow Busta’s advice and use their food caddy to dispose of unavoidable food waste to help create more renewable energy for the community.”

We’ve moved up to become the second best in the Welsh recycling league table thanks to residents embracing our two bag fortnightly waste limit and recycling as much as they possibly can. But there’s still room for improvement so please do the right thing with your waste. We’re really pleased to team up with Recycle for Wales to launch this recycling mission and explain the benefits of being green with our next generation of recyclers!

Councillor Hywel Williams, the council’s Deputy Leader

Teachers can find out more and download resources from the Bridgend recycling mission website.