EXCITEMENT was high when a rocket landed at Embsay Primary School this week.

And the new Rocket food waste composter inspired a fun afternoon of waste reduction activities, which involved nine primary schools and two nursery schools.

Rockets are a continual flow system - with food waste and dry wood chips being added and compost being taken out.

The compost from Embsay’s Rocket will be used on the school’s garden with any surplus being offered to the village community.

The machine has been largely funded by a grant from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund (SDF), which is now in its 13th year of operation.

The fund is open to community groups, businesses and individuals and offers money either to kickstart a project or to develop it for the good of the local community and the national park.

The fun afternoon at Embsay involved making mini wormeries with the Yorkshire Rotters, creating recycled art with Captain Rummage, thinking about ideas to reduce waste and making smoothie drinks while pedalling the smoothie bike.

The event was organised by Ruth Stacey, North Yorkshire County Council's schools carbon reduction officer, working, Embsay School’s eco-schools coordinator Thea Walker and Liz Roodhouse from Craven Development Education Centre in Skipton.