Hosted by comedian and BBC Radio 4 regular Simon Evans, known for his appearances on Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and The News Quiz, the evening celebrated teams, councils and partnerships doing genuinely impressive work across recycling, resource management and waste reduction across the UK.
The winners were:
Best Communications Campaign of the Year
SPONSORED BY CONTENUR
Winner: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, for a bold behaviour-change campaign delivered alongside significant changes to household waste collections across the borough.
Highly commended: East and North Herts Councils; London Borough of Merton
Best New Idea
Sponsored by IPL SCHOELLER
Winner: London Borough of Merton, for a pop-up recycling service that has brought mobile civic amenity collections directly into communities, with more than 13,000 residents attending 44 events and nearly 300 tonnes of material collected.
Highly commended: Teignbridge District Council
Best Partnership
SPONSORED BY N+P
Winner: Cornwall Council, for a wetsuit reuse scheme that has diverted 27 tonnes of wetsuits from the waste stream through its HWRC network, working alongside The Wave Project and Suez.
Highly commended: FCC Environment / Kent County Council; Islington Council and ReLondon
Best Team of the Year
SPONSORED BY PERMISERV/ROUTEWARE
Winner: Highland Council, whose waste services team of around 300 operatives delivered a major shift to twin-stream recycling across the Highlands and six islands, reducing kerbside waste by approximately 7,800 tonnes.
Highly commended: East and North Herts Councils
Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention
SPONSORED BY ECOGENESYS
Winner: East London Waste Authority, for a school uniform reuse network launched across 29 London boroughs in March 2026, developed jointly with three other waste authorities through London Councils’ Climate Programme.
Highly commended: North London Waste Authority
Circular Economy Achievement
SPONSORED BY FAIRPORT CONTAINERS
Winner: Enveco NW, for Blackpool’s circular economy programme centred on reuse, recycling and resident engagement at its household waste recycling centre.
Highly commended: North London Waste Authority
Health and Safety Initiative of the Year
SPONSORED BY VISION TECHNIQUES
Winner: Lincolnshire County Council, for a £4.5 million programme installing automated fire suppression systems across five waste transfer stations, completed with zero RIDDOR incidents and zero lost operational hours.
Highly commended: Westminster City Council
HWRC of the Year
SPONSORED BY SMURFIT WESTROCK
Winner: Walsall Council (Middlemore Lane), a £32 million facility opened in February 2026 that has already welcomed more than 125,000 visitors in its first months of operation.
Highly commended: Lincolnshire County Council (Tattershall)
Congratulations to all winners and highly commended entries from the 2026 awards.
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