Plucky young campaigners took on the Environment Secretary in their bid to clean up Dorset.

Teaming up with Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and Sophie Colley from Litter Free Dorset, pupils from Damers First School in Dorchester travelled to London to talk to Michael Gove.

The pupils pressed Mr Gove and urged him to introduce an ‘all-in’ deposit return system which accepts all drinks cans, bottles and cartons regardless of size or what material they are made from..

In a meeting set up by CPRE, the pupils questioned Mr Gove on his plans to tackle litter and presented him with a list of 'golden rules' on how they think the system should operate.

Mr Gove said it was great to see young people at Damers First School being inspired during the government’s Year of Green Action and he welcomed the efforts of CPRE to tackle litter and plastic waste.

"Consulting on a deposit return scheme is a part of our landmark 'Resources and Waste Strategy', to help leave our environment in a better state than we inherited it for future generations."

The pupils handed Mr Gove a special gift to represents how important they feel a Deposit Return Scheme is.

They presented him with a sculpture of a 'future fossil', designed by the Litter Dorset group which shows a can fossilised in rock.

The pupils said: "The sculpture is carved out of Blue Lias by the Dorset Stone Carver Ben Russell. It symbolises what fossils may look like in 100 years times if we don't act now."

Maddy Haughton-Boakes, litter campaigner at the CPRE said: "The brilliant children from Damers First School understand so clearly the threats to our amazing natural world. They’re passionate about the solutions – not least making sure we have the best recycling systems, such as a world-leading deposit system for drinks cans, bottles and cartons.

"[Mr Gove] now he has a golden opportunity to do the right thing and make sure England, and the children from Damers, have a litter-free future."

During their time in London, the children were interviewed by Newsround, met Green Party member Baroness Jenny Jones who lives in Cerne Abbas and even had a tour of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

The Damers pupils are involved in a number of green initiatives including leading a campaign to help Dorchester achieve SAS Plastic free Communities Status.

Catherine Smith, headteacher at Damers said: "Working alongside the CPRE has been an invaluable experience for our children in terms of their being able to effect change at both local and national level. Our children have strong views and a passion to make our world an even more beautiful place.

"We have seen children inspired to spend their spare time helping to look after our local countryside and they are becoming increasingly aware of the power that every individual has to make a difference, one step at a time. We are delighted to have been invited to Westminster as this provides the children with an ideal opportunity to see democracy in action, within a cause that they truly understand and feel passionate about."