Swinton school children inspire new wagon names for Fresh Start

Heidi Rose and Imogen Nicola are both pupils at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Swinton. Their colourful designs caught the eyes of our judges among the hundreds of submissions we received from our valued school customers.

The girls’ names can now be seen front and centre of our newest trucks, which were unveiled at a special ceremony attended by pupils from St Mary’s.

“Fresh Start is proud to lead the way in waste management across the North West,” says Sam Taylor, our Customer Service Manager. “We genuinely care about providing exceptional service to more than 70 schools and colleges within the region, and are committed to building strong relationships so that they enjoy working with us long term.

‘This competition was our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the schools for their loyalty, as well as inspiring the pupils to set their imaginations free and come up with the ultimate design for our wagons!”

Each child was provided with an outline of one of our trucks, which are a familiar sight in every community as they do their daily rounds. They were then tasked with coming up with a fun design that conveys what Fresh Start is all about: collecting waste and recycling across the North West.

“The standard of entries was exceptional; it was hard enough whittling down the submissions to a shortlist of 10 – never mind picking our eventual winners,” adds Sam. “Our winners just so happen to be from the same school, so St Mary’s can feel very proud of nurturing top talent! We’re delighted for both Heidi Rose and Imogen Nicola and it is our privilege to own trucks named in their honour.”

Heidi’s colourful design took its inspiration from our corporate colour of orange, which is said to embody enthusiasm and determination. She cleverly incorporated bins and the recycling symbol, which perfectly describes our area of expertise. We take a ‘safety first’ approach in all that we do, so the red and white ‘caution’ stripe was spot on – plus, we loved the final flourish of a yellow exhaust pipe!

Imogen opted for a design which is unmistakably Mancunian, with the Manchester worker bee appearing no less than four times. Her entry also sticks closely to the theme of recycling, with a quartet of different coloured bins for various types of waste, as well as a ‘Recycle Today, Right Now!’ headline across the top.

Mark Chadwick, a teacher at St Mary’s said: “As a school that prides itself on our Green Flag Status, and as the first school in Salford to achieve the Modeshift Stars Award for trying to change our attitudes to the environment, we really loved taking part in the competition.

‘After a long period of judging – and from thousands of entries – two of our children’s designs were chosen as worthy winners. Heidi (Year 5) and Imogen (Year 6) had visits from ‘their’ wagons; their names are on the front for all to see and they also received a prize for such a brilliant entry.

‘Well done to Heidi and Imogen, who have helped the school continue in its push to be even more eco-friendly.”

Fresh Start has a long tradition of naming our collection wagons after team members or in memory of close relatives. In September 2017, we made headlines by naming our milestone thirtieth vehicle after Agnieska Gorzynska – a world champion arm-wrestler who we have proudly sponsored for a number of years.

See more about Fresh Start’s waste services including collection, waste management and recycling services. Alternatively, call us on 0808 178 1066 or email info@fswaste.co.uk.