A purple plaque has been unveiled at Hartland Primary School celebrating a former pupil who has won the prestigious Women in Innovation Award from Innovate UK. Sophie Walker returned to her former school on Monday, March 13 to view the purple plaque. The 41-year-old is founder of Dsposal, a project whose mission is to transform the way we all treat our rubbish and recycling.

Purple plaques are being displayed at schools across the country to recognise the achievements of some of the women innovators who have won its prestigious Women in Innovation Award. The Award also sees recipients receive a cash injection of £50,000 and bespoke mentoring to scale up and bring to market their pioneering business ideas.

Sophie is one of a network of over 150 Women in Innovation Award winners who are developing pioneering innovations to tackle pressing societal, environmental, and economic challenges; from delivering precision medicine to underrepresented populations, to offering eco-friendly materials for the aerospace industry and creating cutting-edge digital educational tools.

She is on a mission to transform the way we all treat our rubbish and recycling with her technology company Dsposal. Her Women in Innovation project helps complex waste producers, such as the NHS, to better understand their waste supply chains and meet their environmental targets. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country, collaborated on the project and has since signed a commercial contract with Dsposal. Sophie is also the project lead on another Innovate UK funded project to improve data and sustainability across the packaging supply chain.

Sophie said: “I’m thrilled to be honoured with this Purple Plaque and the chance to share a bit about Dsposal with the pupils of Hartland Primary School. It’s an amazing place to grow up, but I felt like I had to move away to get the kind of career I wanted. I was passionate about the environment even when I was a student here but would never have imagined running a business and I’ve taken a very winding path to where I am now. I hope that by sharing my story I can show the kids that regardless of where you’re from that the world is full of opportunities and with remote working they can be entrepreneurs and innovators even without leaving beautiful North Devon.”

Helen Bye, headteacher at Hartland Primary School said: “We feel very privileged that Sophie wanted to remember us in receiving her award here, and this just shows what a positive impact school can have well into your adult life. At Hartland Primary we place a great importance on our school values, believing that developing these will help our children grow into resilient adults with aspirations. We want our pupils to realise their potential. This plaque is a reminder to everyone here of what they can achieve if they set their mind to it. We’re delighted to recognise Sophie’s achievements and are excited to follow what comes next”.

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