THESE crazy, colourful and creative drawings by children from across Oxford will soon be appearing on bins around the city.

Youngsters entered a competition run by Oxford City Council to design wrappings for the new recycling bins that will be just for single-use coffee cups.

Dozens of children – and a few adults – entered the contest and yesterday the council revealed the prize-winning pieces.

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A total of 19 winning drawings will be displayed alongside ones by professional artists commissioned by the council on 40 bins that will be installed in the city centre, Headington and Summertown.

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A joint venture between the city council and its private contractor Oxford District Services (ODS), the competition aimed to create awareness around an initiative that will both encourage people to recycle takeaway cups and stimulate a conversation about the climate.

The council hopes that the colourful and unique designs will make the bins more noticeable, so that more coffee cups are re-used and recycled in the city.

The bins dedicated specifically for single-use cups will be installed in high-footfall areas alongside those for bottles and cans.

In its first year the programme will aim to recycle 6.35 tonnes – about 350,000 paper cups.

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Cabinet member for a Zero Carbon Oxford and a judge for the competition Tom Hayes said: “It is brilliant that the recycling bins will be unmissable, all because they will showcase artwork from our community.

“As one of the judges in the competition, it was exceptionally hard to pick winners, but I am delighted that these winning designs will prompt people to properly dispose of their waste.”

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The scheme was made possible by a grant from one of UK’s waste reduction charities Hubbub, which aims to kickstart paper coffee cup recycling.

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Recycling project coordinator at ODS Bill Byfield, who is leading the coffee cup project, revealed that according to government estimates around 2.5 billion cups are thrown into landfill or incinerated every year.

He added: “We are really excited to have the opportunity to help to reverse this trend, and encourage more re-use and recycling in Oxford.”