PUPILS at a primary school are recycling their lunchtime leftovers as they ‘go green’.

Judith Metcalf, headteacher at St Mary’s Primary School in Osbald-eston said her pupils were ‘adapting well’ and were excited to ‘turn waste into compost.’ Pupils at the school put their leftover school dinners into a giant food composter, then after six weeks they are provided with compost that is used on the school vegetable patch.

The vegetables are then used on the school dinner menu.

Mrs Metcalf said she was pleased with the pupils’ attitude towards recycling and added: “Our pupils are very aware of the impact we have on the environment.

“They are very proud of the fact that by using the composter they do not contribute to the greenhouse gases produced by food going to landfill.

“The older children help the younger ones, by teaching them what can and can’t go in it, and we have heard that they are also ambassadors by taking the message home.”

As an official Eco-school, pupils at St Mary’s received a £500 waste grant from Global Renewables, which aims to maximise the recovery of resources that can be recycled.

In March 2007, Global Renewables teamed up with Lancashire County Council and signed a £2bn, 25-year agreement to process the household waste of 1.4m people in Lancashire.

Jayne Barber, of Global Renewables, said: “The school wanted to buy a rotating composter which takes all food waste including raw meat and fish, as opposed to just fruit and vegetable waste.

“What also made this application stand out was the level of pupil participation.”