Aberdeen woman writes book to encourage kids to recycle

The Dump book teaches children about recycling

An Aberdeen woman has written her first book to help encourage children to recycle their waste.

Mo Simpson, 60, wrote The Dump as a story she could read to her four grandchildren.

She now hopes to make it available for children across the north-east and is set to self-publish 500 copies this year.

Her book details the adventures of dump collecting trucks Rusty, George, Henry and Henrietta, who teach kids about all the items they can collect to recycle.

Mo said: “It’s to raise awareness of not just mindlessly throwing things away, and thinking of what you can and can’t recycle.

“There’s little messages in it at the back for people who are unsure with information on how you can contact your local waste centre.

Mo has created a number of trucks who teach kids what they can and can’t recycle.

She said: “Rusty is the recycling truck, George is the oldest truck and the basic rubbish collector, Henry, is the road sweeper. Henrietta is the little road sweeper, but she’s a girl so she’s clean and tidy.

“She only collects leaves and flowers, she doesn’t get dirty, she doesn’t do mud and rain.”

Mo, a former fitness instructor and local photographer, has a background of working with children, which sparked her interest in writing the book.

She said: “I’m a volunteer counsellor for Childline and I’ve been a counsellor there for four-and-a-half years, it’s very close to my heart and they’re always fundraising and looking for money.

“So I thought I’d put a wee portion from the (sales of the) book into the Aberdeen branch.”

Mo dotes on her four grandchildren and was inspired to write her book for them.

The idea first popped into Mo’s head when she had sleepovers with her grandchildren; Campbell Simpson, 11, Angus Simpson, 3, Lucas Mollins, 11 and six-year-old Lucy Mollins.

She said: “It was just bedtime stories to begin with. When I had them at sleepovers you have limited time with them so you try make it fun.”

And the stories turned out to be a big hit with grandson, Campbell Simpson, who asked to hear more about Mo’s four characters – learning all about recycling in the process.

She said: “From then he started looking on YouTube at road sweepers and at what they did.

“I thought, ‘what have I done – I’ve started an obsession’.

“We’d jump in my car and go to the local tip which is in Bucksburn, and we’d sit and watch trucks come in and out, and imagine what they’d been doing and what they’d pick up.”

Around 500 copies of the book are set to be published.

The book which is now in its final stages. has been illustrated by a young woman from Peterhead, who studied at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen.

Mo has been unable to see her grandchildren for several months, but is looking forward to showing them the finished project, which she hopes will leave a lasting legacy for them in the future.

In the meantime, it has also proved to be a big hit with others, including the children of her publisher and colleague at the NSPPC charity.

She said: “I work with children and I speak with kids all the time so I can understand their needs and you can tell right away if they like it.

“It’s not a preaching, teaching book. It touches on recycling and the journey is about the trucks and their individual uses.

“You can’t be too preachy about it because the kids would get bored.”