A Bolton-based online retailer welcomed a school for a 'first-of-its-kind' tour of its fridge recycling plant.

AO ran a competition to give one lucky class a behind-the-scenes tour of its facility in Telford, Shropshire.

The trip was led by CBBC host and sustainability influencer, James Stewart.

Ysgol Bryn Alyn, in Wrexham, was the winning school and took a group of 15 pupils, aged between 11 and 13, to the plant.

They met AO’s 80-tonne fridge-crushing machine, Bertha, which can 'eat' up to 100 fridges per hour.

The class was also shown science experiments with Lego and learned about how AO processes around 200 tonnes of fridge plastic each week, which is used to create new products such as bathroom and kitchen fans.

James Stewart challenged the children to 'be a TV presenter for the day' by filming their visit on smartphones provided by AO.

They edited the footage into short videos, which have since been shared on AO’s social media channels.

Richard Holden, science teacher at Ysgol Bryn Alyn, said: "I can’t thank AO enough for choosing our school to win their competition.

"It was a really insightful day and James Stewart was great with the kids, giving them the confidence to be mini TV presenters and letting them shine."

James Stewart said: "I was absolutely blown away when I first visited AO’s fridge recycling plant so it’s been brilliant to experience it through the eyes of children this time around.

"I think a few of them have bright futures as TV presenters and sustainability influencers."

Rob Sant, AO’s group recycling director, came up with the idea for the competition after learning that 'more than a third of Brits rely on their kids to remind them to recycle.'

A survey of more than 2,000 British adults, commissioned by AO, found that around 39 per cent need help from their children when it comes to recycling.

Mr Sant said: "It’s amazing to see kids leading the charge when it comes to recycling, so it was a pleasure to welcome a school class to AO Recycling for the first time ever.

"It was brilliant to see how engaged they were throughout the day and the videos that they’ve put together in such a short space of time are really impressive."