A YOUNG girl's plea over recycling has prompted Helston's mayor to call for the whole town to take action.

Nine-year-old Emly Squibb wrote to Gillian Geer about battery recycling, which was then brought up before the town council.

Mrs Geer told members: "I've had a lovely letter from a child saying we have got to start recycling properly.

"In the next round of buying stuff for the town, we did talk about new bin. If we do get new bins, they have to be ones with recycling gaps, so we can set up Helston as a green town.

"Let's all really make an effort."

In her letter, Emly, a year four pupil at Parc Eglos School, asked Mrs Geer - who also owns food shop Gillian's Larder in Meneage Street - if she could donate any batteries used in her shop to the school.

She wrote: "Our school is always looking for new recycling ideas, as we are doing our best to keep [the] planet a safe place to live for humans and animals.

"At the moment we are working hard to get everyone to recycle batteries, as they cause a lot of damage to our earth and we are running a competition to see which class can collect the most."

Mrs Geer has now written back to Emly, saying that the town council collects batteries at the Guildhall and offering to take these in to her classroom.

Emly has also sent similar letters to Helston's three supermarkets, but has yet to receive any responses.

The nine-year-old told the Helston Packet: "Recycling is important. We have heard lots on the news about plastic in the ocean and it hurts the wildlife as well."

She added that it was "really exciting" to receive a reply, saying: "I don't often get post."

Emly has been learning about recycling at school through its involvement with the Big Battery Hunt, run by Duracell, which encourages schools and pupils to collect as many batteries as they can by April 26 for the chance to win prizes including school trips, iPads, thousands of pounds worth of school equipment and Duracell Bunnies for runners up.