Children love computer games. They will sit for hours weaving their way through interactive mazes, overcoming hazards and avoiding pitfalls.

So what better way to teach youngsters about a subject? More than 7,000 youngsters have logged on to a special website to play games and make discoveries that teach them more about waste and recycling.

“Dropalot has dropped lots of rubbish in the Space Maze. Your job is to guide Lieutenant Star and Commander Blip around the maze to collect all the rubbish for recycling before Dropalot catches you,” the game’s rules explain.

With three lives to lose along the way, children in Bradford are having a whale of a time playing The Space Chase. They are also having fun answering questions about rubbish and learning how to make items such as plant pots from cardboard egg cartons and toys from various pieces of refuse.

Children aged five to 11 are finding out more about refuse and the ways it can be reused from the interactive website, specially developed by Bradford Council.

Waste Invaders aims to encourage youngsters to think about how they can help the environment through recycling. And with a growing number of hits since its launch two years ago, it is a soaraway success.

St Cuthbert’s and the First Martyrs’ Primary School in Scotchman Road, Bradford, is among those whose pupils have been introduced to the site.

“The games are a bit like PacMan but about recycling – you have to run away while Dropalot chases you,” says Hannah Bussingham, ten. “You have to save the rubbish from him and put it in the right bin for recycling.”

“I like doing the quizzes, they are great fun,” adds ten-year-old Ben Jordan. The site includes true or false sections, facts and figures about waste and recycling and an informative section about waste during the Second World War.

It was the brainchild of Anne Dixon, former waste education officer with Bradford Council’s recycling team.

Kate Stanley, the current holder of the post, praises it as a great learning resource. “We’ve had a great response from children, and the good thing is they can go home and access the site there too. They can print the pages off and get involved in some of the tasks.

“It is so interesting to see the women in Second World War recycling in the same way that we do today – children are fascinated by that.”

The website targets two different primary school age groups – five to seven, and seven to 11.

“The children enjoy exploring different areas of the website,” says Genek Prystawsky, Year Six class teacher at St Cuthbert’s.

“They are very computer-literate and love playing games – these are stimulating and informative. After half-term we will be discussing the topic of why we need to recycle – what they have learned on Waste Invaders fits perfectly.”

He adds: “It is a perfect springboard for follow-up hands-on sessions.” These include Towers of Strength, in which pupils build structures from recycled objects.

“I got some really good ideas from the website,” says 11-year-old Cerara Thacker. “It really makes you think about waste and how we can reduce it.”

Adds Aisha Wheatley, ten: “It is interesting to see how much other countries recycle, and it is amazing to think that during the Second World War, ashes made up 55 per cent of waste in people’s bins.”

Waste Invaders is directed specifically at Bradford children. “All councils have different recycling systems,” says Kate Stanley. “This website is geared around what we do in Bradford. The page about what people put in their bins at home is about Bradford.”

The site is updated throughout the year, with new activities added. “We are building in a task that allows children to sort rubbish out,” says Kate, who draws pupils’ attention to the website when working with schools across the district.

Visit waste-invaders.co.uk.