Schoolgirl Designs Superhero To Boost Recycling Efforts

A NINE-year-old schoolgirl has won a design competition to create a recycling champion for the region.

A NINE-year-old schoolgirl has won a design competition to create a recycling champion for the region.

Brooke Smith, a year four pupil at Littleport Community Primary School put pen to paper to come up with a superhero called Michael.

He will now form the central character in a recycling campaign for East Cambridgeshire District Council.

Councillor Julia Huffer, council waste champion, announced the winner at a special assembly held at Brooke’s school.

She said: “We received hundreds of entries to our competition but Brooke’s stood out to the judging panel with its bright colours and sheer personality.

“We are very excited to be introducing Michael to the world.”

Brooke’s design will now be brought to life by an illustrator and costume designer.

Michael will then be used as part of a workshop created by a group of professional actors to be delivered to schools in the region after Easter.

He will also appear on the side of recycling lorries and be used across marketing materials.

Headteacher at Littleport Community Primary School John Cattermole said: “We are thrilled for Brooke who has a natural artistic flair. To see one of our pupils rewarded for hard work and talent is wonderful and it was very special to see her face when her name was called out.”

Brooke was handed a framed copy of her work and £50. A further £200 was given to the school and Brooke will be invited to help decide on how the money is spent.

The recycling campaign for East Cambridgeshire District Council – Be Like Michael, Recycle – has now officially launched.

It aims to help the region achieve its full year target of a 60% recycling rate – up from 56% in 2015/16

Jo Brooks, Operations Director for East Cambridgeshire District Council said: “There are 319 English councils responsible for waste collections and before the introduction of wheeled bin recycling collections East Cambridgeshire was one of the worst in 257th position. It was also the worst performing Cambridgeshire district.

“For the second year running East Cambridgeshire is the 26th best English council for recycling according to recently released results and we intend to continue with this success.”

Residents are asked to recycle all that they can through wheeled bin recycling services.

Councillor Huffer added: “We want to keep moving forwards and it would be wonderful if we could break into the top 10 of the league table.

“We hope that Michael will be instrumental in helping us achieve this.”

The council is currently carrying out a survey to find out how residents use recycling services and how good they think they are.

Surveys can be completed on the Council’s web site at www.eastcambs.gov.uk or printed copies are available from the Council Offices.

To follow Michael on Twitter visit @MikeLRecycle

Photograph left-right: Mrs Mcleish (Brooke’s teacher), John Cattermole (Headteacher at Littleport Primary), Cllr Julia Huffer, Brooke Smith, Jo Brooks (director of operations at ECDC), Cllr Christine Ambrose-Smith, Nick Wyatt (ECDC) and Cllr David Ambrose-Smith