Finalists revealed in 2005 Awards for Excellence

Run by letsrecycle.com, the awards aim to recognise innovation, dedication and success in recycling and sustainable waste management.

Shortlists of three finalists for each of the nine categories have been drawn up by a panel of judges and winners will be announced at the Awards Celebratory Luncheon at London's Savoy Hotel on October 19.

The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

High Street recycling champion
sponsored by Severnside.

• B&Q; for its charging scheme for plastic carrier bags in Scotland;
• Marks and Spencer with Closed Loop London for introduction of recycled content food and drink packaging;
• Wineflair for maximising recycling rates within its 43 stores in Northern Ireland

Commercial recycling champion
sponsored by Valpak.

• Katrina Alexander, instructional officer, Bullingdon Community Prison for achieving a 38.2% recycling rate;
• Derek Brown, waste management coordinator, NHS Ayrshire and Aran for achieving a 31% recycling rate;
• Paul Knowlton, group waste manager, Natures Way Foods for recycling achievements at the company's sites.

Commercial waste management initiative
sponsored by Envirocomms

• Natures Way Foods for recycling and reuse initiatives at its Selsey and Runcton sites;
• Engelhard Sales Ltd for the opening of a collection point and recycling service for waste electrical and electronic equipment;
• J&G; Environmental for its work in the printing industry to promote and deliver recycling.

Innovation in design of a waste management facility
sponsored by ESTET

• RU Recycling for innovative use of equipment at its materials recycling facility and the design to provide a plant within a built environment;
• Shropshire County Council for its integrated waste management facility at Battlefield Enterprise Park, Shrewsbury.
• Sims Group UK for an efficient fridge recycling process in a state of the art plant at Newport.

Collection Crew of the year
sponsored by SITA UK

• Seaside Community Recycling, a kerbside collection partnership between Swale borough council and APM Metals, the crew of Will Dowsett and Brian Crampsey who are assisted by up to four inmates from Standford Hill Prison.
• The Laundry, a weekly kerbside recycling service for businesses in central London, from BioREgional and London Recycling, the crew of Osei Asibey, Robert Grant and Eric Turkson.
• Daventry district council, kerbside collection crew of Daniel Frost and Edward Halkett, for rural collections.

Resource management industry and local authority partnership
sponsored by PaperChain

• G& P Batteries with Lancashire county council for trials on battery recycling;
• Stafford borough council with Biffa Waste Services and Jack Moody Holdings providing a kerbside collection service for garden waste and the production of compost;
• Viridor Waste Management and the Suffolk Recycling Consortium, a partnership which has led to increases in recycling levels across the county.

CA Site of the year
sponsored by Transform

• Somerset county council's Highbridge household waste recycling centre, Somerset county council achieving recycling rates of 80%;
• Lincolnshire county council's household waste recycling centre in Lincoln, redesigned and achieving 60% recycling;
• Northumberland county council's Alnwick household waste recovery centre which has achieved a 67.5% recycling rate and 4.5% reuse.

Best local authority recycling initiative
sponsored by Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling Europe

• London borough of Barnet, for being the first local authority in the UK to move from voluntary to compulsory recycling borough wide.
• Devon county council with unitary and district authorities for the website www.recycledevon.org
• Stockport council for its internal new office recycling and waste minimisation programme.

Local Authority Recycling Champion
sponsored by Defra

• Steve Bakewell, head of environmental operations at Vale Royal borough council, which has increased from a 7% recycling rate in 2001 to 40% in 2004/05;
• Edd de Coverly, recycling project manager and Mark Beagley, waste minimisation and recycling officer, Ashfield district council which has moved from 1% recycling in 2001 to 29.5% in 2004/05;
• Kevin Pickaver, project manager recycling, Rushcliffe borough council, for developing the recycling 2go service, with the borough achieving a 54% recycling rate.

” Congratulations go to those who have been shortlisted as finalists.“
– Steve Eminton, letsrecycle.com
Steve Eminton, editor of letsrecycle.com, said: “We were really pleased with the high standard of entries to this year's awards which reflected the level of work going on across the UK. Kerbside collections featured strongly within the entries but this year we also saw more submissions for the innovation in design category and in particular civic amenity sites or household waste recycling centres.

“Congratulations go to those who have been shortlisted as finalists and I would also like to thank and praise all those who submitted excellent entries and were not shortlisted this year,” Mr Eminton added.

Enquiries about the awards can be made on: 020 7785 6443. For table sales, email will@letsrecycle.com.