FORGET Pokemon Go, residents are being urged to go bin lorry spotting after Reading Borough Council named its six food waste trucks.
The trucks have been spotted on the streets already, including comedian Ricky Gervais spotting his namesake, Ricky Gerwaste, and mentioning it on Twitter.
Now, the council have unveiled the other five names, suggested by children from borough schools.
They are: Waster Taster, suggested by Beau from Churchend Primary School; Hungry Hippo, suggested by Lily Cozens from Thameside Primary School; Trashosaurus, suggested by Brock Briese from Alfred Sutton Primary School; The Bindalorian, suggested by Harriet Mallett-Plummer from St Joseph’s College; and Bin Truck McBinFace, suggested by Holly Curtayne from Highdown Secondary School.
Reading Borough Council’s Recycling & Enforcement Team visited Churchend Primary School on Monday to give Beau from the Reception class a certificate for his winning entry.
The team hopes to visit all the winners at their schools in September to show them the personalised trucks.
Of his new claim to fame, Mr Gervais tweeted: “Is there any greater honour than your hometown naming a garbage truck after you?”
Adrian Jack from Caversham, who submitted the name, couldn’t believe the attention his suggestion had attracted.
Last week, he visited the Council’s Bennet Road depot last week with his family to see the truck.
“I was looking for a pun on Ricky’s name because he is local,” he explained.
“I saw the post tweeted before I’d been told I’d won, and it was really cool to see other celebrities liking the post.
“We recycle all our food waste so it was exciting to win.”
The food waste trucks collect residents’ slops, with each household leaving more than 2kg in their caddies. It is composted and the process helps generate electricity.
Cllr Karen Rowland, Lead Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety, extended an invitation to Mr Gervais to come and see his namesake.
“I’m pleased Ricky Gervais is excited by the honour of having a truck named after him – we’ll happily show him his truck in person if he’d like to come home for a visit,” she said.
“It was great to meet Adrian Jack and his family who invented the catchy name. Ricky’s tweet certainly helped give our valuable food waste recycling programme the spike of attention that it deserves, as our residents are doing a sterling job in getting on board with the programme, but maybe he’s garnered a few more converts to our efforts with food recycling.
“Thanks for the attention, Ricky.”
And the competition had also helped the council raise awareness of its food waste scheme and its benefits.
“Hopefully (more) younger people will get more involved with the scheme going forward,” she said.
“Keep an eye out for the trucks and see how long it takes to spot all six – never mind Pokemon Go, try Reading Food Waste Truck Bingo.”
