Eight-year-old environment champion Emily Dixon is rapidly becoming the face of recycling in Kirklees.

Emily, a pupil at Moorlands Primary School in Huddersfield, won a competition to name one of Kirklees Council’s garden waste lorries and now she’s a co-presenter on a recycling video produced by the council for World Environment Day.

From the end of March the council stepped up its recycling efforts by accepting plastic pots, tubs and trays in residents’ green bins, the first change to recycling collections in 10 years.

To help and inform residents what they can and can’t put in green bins the council has produced three online videos.

The latest video takes viewers around the council’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at Emerald Street in Huddersfield where all waste from green bins is taken to be sorted and recycled.

From there, Emily and her co-presenters explain what should and shouldn’t go in green bins.

Clr Will Simpson, Cabinet member of culture and greener Kirklees, thanked Emily for her support in helping Kirklees Council promote recycling and said: “What a fantastic example Emily is to us all.

“It is great to see young people engaging with our agenda and I thank her on behalf of everyone at the council for all her help. She is a credit to herself, her parents and her school.”

The new video highlights the importance of only putting the right materials in green bins so they can be processed and recycled at the MRF.

Plastic pots, tubs and trays have joined plastic bottles, tin cans, paper and cardboard as appropriate materials to be placed in Kirklees’ green bins.

The presenters explain why materials need to be clean and dry and how damage to the MRF machinery is caused by the wrong items that are put in green bins.

Viewers are also treated to some humorous comments about the strange things that people think can be recycled via green bins such as dirty nappies, shoes, toilet seats and potatoes!

“Our three short videos are designed to be informative and light-hearted while getting across an important message,” said Clr Simpson.

“Improving the recycling rates in Kirklees is a key aim of our Resources and Waste Strategy and the videos help us all learn about how we can play our part in achieving those aims together.”

Emily points the way as Compo, Bradley Twiggins and Forest Dump encourage us to recycle our garden waste

The first two videos can be seen HERE