STAFF at the Asda supermarket in Spennymoor were so impressed by the environmental work by school pupils they gave them prizes for their efforts.

Children from King Street Primary School, Spennymoor, visited Asda to investigate the supermarket's approach to reducing waste and energy usage. Joe Crabtree, from Asda, showed the children around the store and explained what measures were taken to recycle waste.

Pupils designed posters to encourage customers to use the household recycling facilities in the store's car park.

Staff were so impressed they awarded prizes to 11-year-old Lauren Richardson and Michaela Lowes for the best posters and to Kathryn Siddle for her poem 'Ode to Asda'.

The work was part of Greenlink, the national education programme run by environmental organisation Groundwork.

Tracy Colling, local Agenda 21 project officer from Groundwork East Durham, said: "This year the focus of Greenlink is waste and recycling. At school we have been looking at the problems facing landfill disposal and the benefits of using the 3Rs - reduce, reuse, and recycle.