With six Awards presented, Rochdale borough council clinched the Best Communications Campaign Award for its ‘Recycling Saves Money’ campaign – while South Staffordshire council and Biffa were recognised for their driver safety initiative through the Best Partnership Award.
Other winners included Chelmsford city council’s four-person team of Mark Smith, Charlotte Michaels, Rebecca Moss and Suzanne Lawson, who received the Team of the Year trophy; South Ayrshire council which received the Best Waste Minimisation Project accolade for its Beach Restoration work; and Recycle for Greater Manchester and Bolton council, who collected the Best New Idea award for its English as second language resources initiative.
Organised by letsrecycle.com, the awards ceremony at the East Midlands Conference Centre recognises the achievements and efforts of local authority recycling officers and their colleagues over the past 12 months.
The black tie event, which was hosted by the comedian Ian Moore, is one of the highlights of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee’s (LARAC’s) two-day Conference. The event saw recycling officers from across the country come together at the East Midlands Conference Centre to discuss issues affecting the sector.
Champion
A standout nominee in LARAC Recycling Champion Award category, sponsored by Countrystyle Recycling, Mr Yendluri was described by his colleagues as ‘jolly, conscientious and efficient’. Judges thought the range of projects undertaken by Mr Yendluri including expanding small WEEE banks across the borough, leading on procurement deals and stakeholder engagement were worthy of the prize.
Other finalists in the category included Dave Leeming of Rochdale borough council, and David Whitehouse of Warwickshire county council, who were highly regarded by judges.
Rochdale’s recognition in the Best Communications Campaign category, sponsored by Biffa capped a busy year for the Manchester authority – following the roll out of a new waste and recycling collection service. The council was a finalist in three categories, including the Team of the Year.
Neil Maver Rochdale’s waste and recycling manager collected the award for the ‘Recycling Saves Money’ campaign which used a financial message to highlight the benefits of using a new food waste service through a range of digital and off line communication tools.
On the team front – Chelmsford city council’s Service Development Team was recognised for its work in delivering recycling schemes to over 5,000 flats and engaging with over 6,800 residents at events, talks and assemblies and workshops in 12 months. The Best Team of the Year Award was sponsored by Environmental Waste Controls.
Best New Idea
Innovation was on display in the Best New Idea category, sponsored by Suez. A unique campaign to deliver bespoke communications and learning resources to English Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) – run by Recycle for Greater Manchester and Bolton council was the ultimate winner. The campaign engaged a traditionally hard to reach demographic – offering learning resources that tied in key messages about local recycling services.
In the Best Partnership category, the work done by South Staffordshire council and Biffa Municipal came out on top ahead of projects from Solihull, Cardiff and Calderdale. The Safer Driving Campaign sought to reduce the risk to crews from dangerous driving around RCVs and involved a significant public engagement programme.
South Ayrshire attracted huge interest in its work to divert organic waste collected from beaches away from landfill – with the project nominated in both the Best New Idea and the Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention Project categories. With the project having diverted over 3,000 tonnes of gathered beach waste from landfill, saving an estimated £246,000 in costs. The council was awarded the Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention Project Award by sponsor Repic.
The 2016 winners and finalists in full:
Best Communications Campaign, Sponsored by Biffa
Winner: Rochdale Borough Council, Recycling Saves Money
Recycle For Greater Manchester, R4GM Food Waste Recycling
Surrey County Council, Recycle Food Waste 2015/16
Aberdeen City Council, Love Your Caddy
Best Partnership Award, Sponsored by Viridor
Winner: South Staffs & Biffa Municipal, Safer Driving Campaign
Calderdale, The Floods of Calderdale
Solihull Council, Follow the Path to Recycling
City of Cardiff, Keep Roath Tidy
Team of the Year, Sponsored by Environmental Waste Controls
Winner: Chelmsford City Council
Woking Borough Council Waste & Recycling Team
Dorset Waste Partnership – Operation Division
Rochdale Borough Council
Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention Project, Sponsored by Repic
Winner: South Ayrshire Council: Beach Restoration Project
Durham County Council, Green Move Out Campaign
South Derbyshire District Council & Sainsbury’s, Waste Less Save More
Best New Idea, Sponsored by Suez
Winner: Recycle for Greater Manchester and Bolton Council, ESOL Resources
Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority: We Are Stardust
South Ayrshire Council: Beach Restoration Project
Recycling Officer of the Year, Sponsored by Countrystyle Group
Winner: Raj Yendluri, Westminster City Council
David Whitehouse, Warwickshire County Council
Dave Leeming, Rochdale Council
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