BT and Sutton council among National Recycling Awards winners

The awards were held at a ceremony in the Bournemouth International Convention Centre and presented by the former comedian turned environmentalist Bill Oddie.

Recycled product of the year, a category sponsored by letsrecycle.com, was won by Tarmac Recycling for Toptrec, a 100% recycled footpath aggregate. This is targeted at the niche markets of footpaths, cyclepaths and bridleways.

South Lakeland won its award, sponsored by Severnside, for organising a scheme to recycle black farm films which are sent on to Dumfries Plastics Recycling.

BT took the industry award, sponsored by Biffa, for its toner cartridge and inkjet recycling project which has seen the telecommunications giant setting up a return loop scheme at all of its major sites.

The award for recycling officer of the year, sponsored by Serviceteam, went to Steve Haugh of Ipswich Borough Council for his work in co-ordinating the region’s Slim Your Bin campaign and for helping to increase recycling rates in Ipswich. This has included the expansion of composting with 7,000 brown bins delivered to residents.

Waste minimisation project of the year went to Northeast Wholesale Fruit and Veg Market Ltd on the Team Valley in Gateshead. Sponsored by Valpak, the award recognised the work by the market to reduce and recycle waste including the development of a small-scale composting project.

The award for recycling target success, sponsored by Aylesford Newsprint, went to the London Borough of Sutton for reaching 42.5% recycling rate. The borough has implemented a range of recycling work including different coloured bins, the issuing of home composters and a seasonal green garden waste collection scheme.

The best partnership project for recycling was won by the Anglia Waste Awareness – Slim your Bin campaign. Sponsored by UK Paper’s Evolve brand, the award recognised the achievements of the project which included coverage on TV and radio.

The awards were organised by Materials Recycling Week and its editor, Jane Rayner, spoke of the high quality of the entries.