A PRIMARY school student from Yorkshire will have his impressive artwork toured across the county, after winning a competition to design an environmentally-friendly masterpiece.
Oliver Neale, a year 5 pupil from Tickhill Estfield Primary School in Doncaster, won the ‘ReDesign a ReFood Truck’ competition, run by local food waste recycling firm, ReFood. The project, which aimed to get primary-age children more engaged with sustainability, saw more than 1,000 entries submitted from schools across the region.
Oliver’s winning artwork (pictured above), which depicts how the anaerobic digestion process can turn unwanted food waste into renewable energy, was chosen as the winner due to its creative use of colours and imagery. The design has been liveried on one of ReFood’s brand new dedicated collection vehicles, and will be driven across Yorkshire for all to see on its daily collection runs – including to Tickhill Estfield itself!
Pictured with his classmates, Oliver was presented with £500 in book vouchers for his school by Philip Simpson, commercial director at ReFood, and Caroline Flint, Member of Parliament for Don Valley, when the truck was officially unveiled last week (6th March). As part of the prize, his class will also receive a personal tour of ReFood’s anaerobic digestion plant in Doncaster.
Laura Moffatt, regional sales manager at ReFood Doncaster, comments: “At ReFood, we understand the importance of getting students to think about recycling and food waste – they’re the next generation of recyclers.
“Our ‘ReDesign a ReFood Truck’ competition aimed to make the whole process more fun and understandable for the younger generation, helping to support the concept of sustainability in schools and at home.
“As part of the competition, we sent each school in an education pack, designed to highlight the benefits by minimising food waste and to encourage pupils to consider how they can reduce the volume of leftovers that end up in the bin. With advice and engaging lesson plans, the pack will hopefully allow recycling to be included as part of the curriculum.”
Caroline Flint, Member of Parliament for Don Valley, added: “This was a great day for Oliver. Over 1,000 children entered the competition, but it was Oliver’s design about turning food waste into energy that won the day. Oliver’s design now features on the side of this huge ReFood lorry and will now be seen by thousands of people every day.”
Providing food waste recycling services to schools and businesses across the county, ReFood turns food waste, such as peelings and leftovers, into renewable energy at its dedicated anaerobic digestion facility at Ings Road, Doncaster. Capable of producing 5MWh of renewable energy every hour – enough to power more than 10,000 homes across the region – ReFood provides an environmentally-friendly alternative to sending waste to landfill. What’s more, the ReFood service is completely circular for the food chain, as the by-product produced is a nutrient-rich fertiliser used to grow new crops by farmers in the South Yorkshire area.
