Pupils are being urged not to let the leftovers from their school dinners wind up in landfill, with a drive to get them thinking green and recycling their waste.

This week is National Recycling Week and youngsters at Notre Dame High School in Norwich have been demonstrating their environmentally-friendly credentials.

The school, in Surrey Street, has fully embraced recycling and pupils there have been emptying their dinner plates into food waste bins so it can be recycled.

The school is one of 18 throughout the city now using Norwich City Council's free food waste collections introduced earlier this year, as well as a general recycling service.

Rob Whittle, geography teacher at the school, who covers waste and waste technology in his lessons, said: 'Notre Dame runs a blue bin system that recycles approximately 11-12 tonnes of paper and card per year, and it is hoped that approximately two tonnes of food waste might be recycled by pupils and staff via the school's dining facilities and kitchens.

'National Recycling Week and Norwich's new food waste collection for schools encourages our pupils to really engage with important food and food waste issues and gives the school a further opportunity to move towards its own Zero Waste ambitions.'

Councillor Paul Kendrick, portfolio holder for waste and recycling at Norwich City Council, said: 'As a nation, we've come a long way since we first began to take recycling seriously.

'This is good news for the environment - it means we're sending less waste to landfill and making better use of the natural materials that go into the products we use every day.

'Norwich has dramatically improved its recycling rates in the last 10 years with recycling rates jumping from around 11 per cent in 2003 to around 40 per cent in 2013.'

As well as the schools food waste collection, a number of other services have been introduced by the city council to help people recycle from home.

They include: blue bins for mixed recycling, continuing the only doorstep glass collection in the county, brown bins for garden waste and a food waste collection scheme. There are also recycling bins around the city.

National Recycling Week runs until tomorrow.