TWO West Devon women have been recognised for their dedication to improving the planet by being named in the Recycle Devon ‘thank you’ awards.

At the fourth annual awards ceremony last week, a teacher from Okehampton College won in the adult school/educational establishment recycling hero category and a woman from Winkleigh picked up the runner-up prize in the community group recycling hero category.

Science teacher at Okehampton College Sarah Mclintock has been the driving force behind all sorts of projects, including introducing a separate food waste collection at the college, purchasing better recycling bins, introducing the teracycle scheme and a clothes recycling scheme.

She also organises student-led assemblies on waste and recycling and is helping to shape the environmental curriculum. As well as this she has helped the college to achieve green flag Eco School status and takes a lead in staff briefings to improve staff attitudes to sustainability.

Wendy Monday, from Winkleigh, although she did not win her category, was named runner up.

She, along with the residents of Winkleigh, work tirelessly to increase the amount of plastics being recycled in the village. Originally, manned collection points were set up and then the village progressed to timed collections with Peninsula Waste Services. To date, Winkleigh residents have diverted 15 tonnes of waste from disposal.

The recycling credits received are used for community projects and the scheme has saved countless journeys to the nearest recycling point 15 miles away.

As in previous years, residents nominated their ‘recycling super hero’ in one of seven categories. Recycle Devon then shortlisted the 61 nominations and picked category runners-up and winners.

The awards ceremony was held at County Hall and was hosted by Matt and Caroline from Heart Radio’s breakfast show.

The awards recognise those people who do that bit extra to help ensure Devon remains clean and green. Recycle Devon is a partnership of ten councils, including Devon County Council, eight district authorities and one unitary authority.

Chairman of Devon Authorities Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee (DAWRCC) Councillor Rodney Cann said: ‘These awards have been a great success with 850 people voting for their recycling hero. Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up.

‘At the last count 55.4 percent of the total rubbish collected or taken to the county’s numerous recycling centres was recycled and that makes Devon one of the top recycling counties.’