Carol Arthur, who had her own spot on Radio Devon to help answer public queries about recycling, was named Recycling Officer of the Year at the awards ceremony last week (October 19).
The Judges were impressed by Ms Arthurs flair and strong track record, in addition to her innovative ideas for getting the recycling message across through campaigns such as Follow the Yellow Page Road.
The LARAC Celebration awards recognise the dedication, success and achievements of local authority recycling officers and their teams and partners. They were presented at the Chesford Grange hotel in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, following the first day of the annual Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) conference, held in partnership with UPM.
Other winners on the night included Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council, which won the Most Improved Recycling Rate (Target Success) category for increasing its recycling rate dramatically from 28.7% in 2009/10 to over 50% following the introduction of weekly food waste collections and fortnightly collections of residual waste.
Maidstone borough council meanwhile won recognition in the highly competitive Best Communications Campaign of the Year category, after it successfully designed and delivered a campaign to communicate major changes to its kerbside recycling service for residents in just four months.
Cardiff council was honoured in the Best Partnership Award category and Worcestershire won Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention Project, while Solihull took home the Best New Idea or Innovation a new award category for using a money-saving in-cab control system.
The Awards dinner took austerity as its theme in light of spending cuts and the recession. Recycling officers, guests and sponsors wore clothes from the 1940s, many bought from vintage and second-hand clothing shops. The Glad Rags Trophies for best recycled/charity shop 1940s costume, sponsored by textile recycling company I&G Cohen, were won by Steven Baker of Medway council in his twice recycled army uniform and Lorraine Neave from South Derbyshire district council who really could have dug for victory in her land army garb.
The evening was topped off with witty and thoughtful compering from consultant Ray Georgeson who spokeabout the austerity theme and in music-hall style had the audience singing along with a Dads Army ditty on Eric Pickles and weekly bin collections.
LARAC chair Joy Blizzard thanked all who were involved in making the event, which was organised by letsrecycle.com, a success. She added that in a spot collection on the night LARAC raised 817 for Help the Heroes.
Also at the event, Claire Spencer from West Devon borough council won an iPad 2 after she was entered into a prize draw for networking with all the sponsors.
The full list of LARAC Celebration awards winners are:
BEST COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR – Maidstone borough council
Sponsored by UPM
Maidstone borough council had just four months to design, communicate and implement changes to its recycling service including the introduction of borough-wide weekly food waste collections and fortnightly refuse collections. A comprehensive and cost effective communications campaigns was designed including pilot trials with 20 local families, radio interviews and recycling calendars. The campaign costs just over 40,000 (73p per household). After just six months, participation rates soared to around 80% and the councils recycling rate increased to 45%. The judges said that communications were key with food waste collection as this is still a relatively new area. They were also impressed by how all the messages were well tested and with the positive local media coverage.
BEST PARTNERSHIP AWARD – Cardiff councils Get It Out for Cardiff partnership
sponsored by Viridor
Cardiff councils partnership with Cycle Training Wales, the British Heart Foundation, Salvation Army, Fair Share and Cardiff Student Union is designed to maximise reuse in student accommodation and minimise the environmental impact when they leave the city. Students are now given the opportunity to donate unwanted food to socially deprived people, with clothes distributed to those most in need. Electricals are sold in a local charity shop and pots, pans and bikes are sold back to the student community at the Freshers Fayre to achieve closed loop recycling. Cardiff says this Get It Out for Cardiff project can only get bigger and better. The judges were impressed by how the campaign involved a lot of people working together for a good cause, with social as well as environmental benefits. The scheme also stood out from similar projects because of the breadth of materials and products reused and recycled.
BEST IMPROVED RECYCLING RATE (TARGET SUCCESS) – Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council
Sponsored by FCC
Newcastle under-Lyme borough council has increased its recycling rate dramatically from 28.7% in 2009/10 to over 50% following the introduction of a new kerbside recycling service. In March 2010 the council rolled out weekly food waste collections alongside fortnightly collections of residual waste, garden waste and dry recyclables. A careful communications campaign was run alongside the service change including school visits, bin stickers, road shows, leaflets and radio adverts. As well as boosting recycling rates, the new service has saved the council 500,000. The judges said the increase in recycling in just one year was phenomenal and were impressed with the value of the scheme.
BEST WASTE MINIMISATION OR PREVENTION PROJECT – Worcestershire county councils Love Food Hate Waste campaign
Sponsored by Repic
Worcestershire county council ran a Love Food Hate Waste campaign with the help of nutrition students from the University of Worcester, who gave more than 320 hours of their time for free. More than 70 local businesses supported the campaign, displaying posters and leaflets. The campaign achieved a dramatic 12% reduction in food waste in the three wards targeted (8,774 households) with avoidable food waste per household per week falling from 1.7kg to 1.5kg. Equivalent advertising value of 4,118 was achieved, plus radio interviews. Meanwhile, the students benefited from valuable hands-on experience. The judges were impressed by the results of this project and also with the innovative partnership working.
BEST NEW IDEA OR INNOVATION – Solihull metropolitan borough councils in-cab system
Sponsored by SITA UK
In April 2011 Solihull MBC together with its service partner Enterprise started using an in-cab control system to monitor performance in all its collection vehicles. The in-cab system is a real-time data management system which uses a set of detailed electronic round schedules, allowing crews to respond to changes in customer circumstances almost immediately. As the system contains detailed instructions on each property, the council can offer a more personalised service to residents and can differentiate between properties where a reported missed bin collection is the result of incorrect or non presentation by residents as opposed to crew error. Critically, the introduction of the new service enabled Solihull to save 100,000 by not returning to collect missed collections. The judges said that while this was not uniquely new, it illustrated the successful application of technology and also represented best practice, which other councils could replicate.
RECYCLING OFFICER OF THE YEAR – Carol Arthur recycling officer at Torbay council
Sponsored by YELL
Carol Arthur has worked for Torbay for the past 12 years and is credited for continually coming up with new ideas for promotions for waste minimisation and recycling, through campaigns such as Follow the Yellow Page Road to promote Yellow Pages recycling. She has also helped recycle cans and plastic bottles from local tourist attractions and worked with schools and sheltered accommodation to help children and the elderly population alike understand what they can and cannot recycle. She has also had her own spot on radio Devon, where the public were encouraged to phone in with questions for her. The Judges praised Ms Arthurs flair and strong track record, in addition to her innovative ideas for getting the recycling message across.
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