A youngster from Wem has written to Shropshire Council demanding to know much Palm Oil is being used by the authority.

Gertie Bielstein, who is a Year Six pupil at Newtown C of E Primary School, near Wem, wrote to the Shire Services manager Janet Croft last week to find out.

Gertie also included her school headteacher Andrew Hodson as well as the English department World Wide Fund for Nature – who both responded – as she takes her environment knowledge seriously.

"I am very interested and concerned on climate change and living more sustainably," said Gertie, in her email to Ms Croft.

"You may be aware that palm oil has been, and continues to be, a cause of deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the orangutan, Sumatran tiger and Sumatran rhino just to name a few of the countless animals affected by the palm oil deforestation.

"This forest loss coupled with ploughing up and planting palm trees on carbon rich peat soils is throwing out millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. These are serious issues but it doesn’t have to be this way.

"When we go shopping my sister and I check the labels to avoid palm oil, it is extremely difficult as it is in many products. I have been doing some research on the World Wide Fund for Nature, (WWF) website. I would like to know what Shire Services’ policy on sourcing sustainable palm oil is."

Gertie has asked Shropshire Council if they could calculate how much palm oil they use and publish it on their website while other investigating other ways to avoid using it.

Ms Croft replied to the youngster, promising to investigate further. She said: "I can say that Shropshire Council does not currently have a policy in place to reduce or prevent the use of palm oils in the service.

"I am as a parent, concerned about the impact on the environment, my nine-year old daughter also has a keen interest in the environment, and where possible I am swapping to more environmentally-friendly products at home to reduce my families impact on the environment."

The WWF responded to stay they support sourcing more sustainable palm oil, rather than a boycott, and Mr Hudson praised Gertie's attitude.