Christmas has come early for Hertfordshire students who have won prizes including an iPad2 for recycling a can of baked beans.

On Wednesday, Shaun Fincher (University of Hertfordshire) bagged the top prize of an iPad2, while Hannah Donohue (West Herts College) collected an iPod Shuffle, and University of Hertfordshire student Tan Kian Sin won a £100 gift card for event tickets after 'liking' Hertfordshire Waste Partnership’s ‘WasteAware’ facebook page.

All the students picked up a free 'emergency’ can of baked beans during fresher’s week. By recycling that can in special bins on either of the university campuses they were entered into a competition. Students who followed a request on the can’s label to become a Facebook friend of WasteAware were entered into a separate draw to win a £100 to spend with ‘Ticketmaster’.

The competition was organised by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership in connection with the University of Hertfordshire’s Community Partnership Office, as part of a drive to boost recycling rates both on campus and in the local community.

Cllr Derrick Ashley, Hertfordshire County Council's executive member for waste and chairman of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership said: "The cans are a great way of encouraging students to recycle. They can use the facilities available to them at their halls, or the household recycling scheme if they're in private accommodation."

Cllr Colin Couch, executive member for environment at Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, said: "This initiative is a fun and exciting way to encourage students to become familiar with Welwyn Hatfield’s refuse and recycling service. We want to encourage students to make the most of the new service, which now accepts plastics, as well as cans, glass and paper."

Geraldine Ward, deputy dean of students at the University of Hertfordshire said: "The university is delighted to be associated with this initiative, which is a superb way of showing students how to use Welwyn Hatfield’s recycling services”.

The 2,000 cans of beans were donated by Asda in Hatfield.

Karen Todd, head of corporate and social responsibility for Asda said: “Asda are happy to be supporting this initiative which will hopefully encourage the students to think more about recycling