YOUNGSTERS from a Fenland school who are helping to clear up the environment had a lesson in recycling when they visited a landfill site. Pupils at Meadowgate Special Needs School in Wisbech have been working with Fenland Council on environmental projects

YOUNGSTERS from a Fenland school who are helping to clear up the environment had a lesson in recycling when they visited a landfill site.

Pupils at Meadowgate Special Needs School in Wisbech have been working with Fenland Council on environmental projects for more than a year.

They spend a weekly session picking up litter in Wisbech Park and in November visited the recycling plant in Wisbech run by Donarbon, the main waste contractor for Cambridgeshire.

Last week's visit to Donarbon's landfill site at Waterbeach, organised by the council's operations manager, Peter Walls, was the final piece in the waste jigsaw.

The group had a tour around the 500-acre site and were able to see what happens to the rubbish brought in from all over the county. The majority of the rubbish in Fenland Council's green and brown bins is taken to the Waterbeach site.

The pupils watched rubbish being dumped in specially-prepared landfill cells, learned about various ways of recycling rubbish and were able to see how compost is made from garden and kitchen waste.

As part of the partnership scheme with the council, the children have helped with Wisbech in Bloom, developed a sensory garden at the school and made bat boxes.

Councillor Peter Murphy, portfolio holder for Streets Ahead who also went on the visit, said: "It was very interesting for the pupils to see just what happens to all the rubbish we collect and put in our bins.

"Being environmentally conscious can only be a good thing and we, as a council, are more than happy to work with groups in this way as we all benefit.