Sweet Tub Teddy awarded medal for recycling mission

Teddy, 7, collected thousands of empty confectionery tubs, preventing them from ending up in landfill

A seven-year-old boy has been honoured with a national award for his recycling efforts after he collected thousands of empty confectionery tubs, preventing them from ending up in landfill.

Teddy from Netley, Hampshire collected more than 2,500 plastic tubs when he found out they could not be recycled in household recycling bins earning him the nickname "Sweet Tub Teddy".

Teddy was presented with a British Citizen Youth Award at the Palace of Westminster on Thursday for 'exceptional contribution to the community and being an inspiration to others', he can now use the letters BCyA after his name.

He said: "I can't believe it. This just proves you're never too small to make a big difference."

Teddy was presented with his BCyA Medal of Honour by Tim Vincent and British Citizen Youth Awards ambassador, James Cathcart. The awards, now in its ninth year, honoured 22 young people from across the UK.

Teddy said he wants to keep on making a positive impact on the environment and to continue to inspire his peers and the local community.

He said: "It doesn't matter how small you are, you can make a big difference. It's never too late to make a change."

In March he was given a "buddy bench" for his school playground, made from his recycled plastic tubs after visiting the warehouse in Exeter where they are processed.

Teddy has been presented with the BCyA Medal of Honour at The Palace of Westminster

Teddy, aged six at the time, decided to take action to recycle the tubs inspired by his hero David Attenborough after learning they ended in landfill because they could not be recycled through kerbside collections in his local area.

With help from his mum, Laura, he gathered the tubs from people's houses got his school to send a letter out to parents asking them to drop off their tubs and even rescued them from bins before stacking them up in a storage area.

He set a target of 500 tubs but reached 2,598 within a month in February this year.

He then took the piles of tubs to his local pub so they could be sent for recycling through the Tub2Pub scheme to make outdoor furniture.

Teddy says for now he currently has no plans to repeat the feat next year.