NO athlete from Wharfedale will be carrying the Olympic torch at the Sydney 2000 Games this summer, but the area will have some representation at the prestigious sporting event.

Ironically, Michael Dobson, who was born in Otley, does not have much interest in athletics - but his contribution to the Games will be immense, even though his work will more than likely to go un-noticed by the thousands of spectators.

Mr Dobson, 56, who has lived in Australia since he emigrated with his family in 1951, has played a leading role in developing a working plan for the management of waste at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Along with his colleagues at Australian waste company BFI, he helped to figure that each spectator at an Olympic event would generate .27kg of waste and, once given an estimate on the crowd for a specific event, could organise the collection and disposal of the waste generated.

The plans he helped to formulate mean that more than 80 per cent of waste at the Olympics will be recycled.

His proud aunt, Ada Granville, who still lives in Otley on Oatlands Drive, said: "I am delighted that he is getting on so well. He is really into recycling and his bosses think very highly of him. He last visited Otley two years ago with his wife, and she was taken with this lovely town."

As the Wharfedale Observer went to press, Mr Dobson was unavailable for comment at his home in Australia.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.