Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) has announced the winners of its recycling poster competition, with the designs to be displayed on the side of the council’s refuse vehicles. 

Around 200 young people took part in the competition and the posters of Betsy, aged six, and Charlie, aged eight, have been selected to be installed on the side of two bin trucks. 

The posters highlight the need to recycle things in the correct bins with materials such as black sacks, food, textiles, and polystyrene being placed in the wrong bins. 

From January to April 2023, the content of over 3,800 blue recyclable bins, equating to roughly 33,000kg, was sent to landfill as their content was not fully recyclable or contained black sacks. 

Whilst the council was able to recycle 96 per cent of materials within the recycling bin, the remaining amount, which is estimated to between 23 – 56 tonnes of avoidable CO2 emissions, was rejected. This could easily be reduced by recycling properly as the posters encourage. 

Executive councillor for leisure, waste and street scene at HDC Cllr Simone Taylor, said: “It is fantastic that this competition was able to capture the imagination of some of our younger residents and it was a tough job for the judges to pick two wining posters.” 

“It was great to see the children and their family joining us for the morning and getting involved in educating others about how to recycle properly.” 

Competition winner Betsy said: “Going on the lorry was great, I can't wait to see the truck from my school and home”. 

Competition winner Charlie said: “I enjoyed the driving and honking the horn, the banner also looks very nice”. 

The council is hoping to display all the entries at an exhibition at a council facility over the coming months.