THREE environmentally-aware youngsters from North Yorkshire have devised an information pack to help Darlington's 100,000 residents to think green.

Eighteen-year-olds Zoe Davies and Angela Hutchinson, from Great Smeaton, and Natalie Wagstaff, from Northallerton, spent more than 100 hours creating an environmental pack for Darlington Borough Council as part of a millennium volunteers' scheme run by Northallerton College, where they were students.

Made possible through a £3,000 donation from the County Durham Environmental Trust under the landfill tax credit scheme, the pack will be available in Darlington by the end of the year.

It contains information on water, energy, travel, waste and recycling, gardening and shopping, as well as leaflets highlighting recycling sites, bus timetables and useful contacts.

Zoe said: "The council wanted a simple and readable pack and gave us a flexible brief to work from.

"We are all interested in the environment and were really keen to make a contribution by getting involved. It will be great to see the final version of our pack in print."

Over the past four years the trust has allocated £4m from landfill tax credit scheme donations to a host of projects that benefit the environment and the people of County Durham.

Chairman John Wearmouth said: "It is good to see publications like this prepared by young people. The borough council is to be congratulated on this initiative."