Winners of Awards for Excellence 2009 announced

Among those honoured were a collection crew from Rushcliffe borough council, the London borough of Islington and councillor Janine Rodger of Rutland county council, who was recognised for her work developing the local authority's recycling and waste management service.

The sixth annual awards were organised by letsrecycle.com to honour the efforts of the private, public and third sector in waste and recycling and were hosted by television personality and news reader Dermot Murnaghan.

The keynote address at the event was given by Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, who praised the efforts of those present but urged more work to be done to prevent material from ending up in “nasty landfills”.

Over 200 representatives of waste and recycling attended the event, which was supported by Defra's Waste Implementation Programme, the Environment Agency, the Environmental Services Association and the National Association of Waste Disposal Authorities.

Awards

Steve Eminton, editor of letsrecycle.com, said: “This year we were looking for people who have built on the efforts that they have done and not just those with high recycling rates. And, I think you can see from the winners that this has been reflected.”

Mr Eminton also touched on the changing fortunes of the waste and recycling sector over the past 12 months, which had seen a massive decline in recovered material prices in November 2008 and is now showing signs of stability and improvement almost one year on.

In closing the ceremony, host Mr Murnaghan said: “I would like to take this opportunity to tell the finalists that they have all done remarkably well and I hope that we can make the general public as aware of your efforts from here on and spread the message – spread the gospel – about how much recycling is growing.”

 

The Winners

 

High Street Recycling Champion – sponsored by Severnside Recycling

Winner: Marks and Spencer

In a bid to become more environmentally aware and improve performance, retailer Marks and Spencer reduced the number of clothes hanger styles from 162 to 86 and increased their reuse, and claims that over 2,000 million hangers will be reused in 2009/10. 

Runners-up: Home Retail Group; Queensgate Shopping Centre

 

  

Commercial Recycling Champion – sponsored by Valpak

Winner: Coleford Recycling Partnership, Glaxosmithkline

Glaxosmithkline Coleford is a soft drinks manufacturer on a large site and, after working closely with NISP, installed recycling machines to improve the recycling of materials such as pallet strapping and drinks cartons.

Runners-up: Mike Hanson, BaxterStorey; RDC Recycling Team

  

  

Waste Management Initiative in the Commercial and Public Sector – sponsored by Shanks Waste Solutions 

Winner: Imago@Loughborough University

After introducing a recycling service in the halls of residence at Loughborough University in 2006, Imago has managed to reduce waste to landfill by 355 tonnes and it has also introduced an incentive scheme for bottle recycling.

Runners-up: The Kerrygold Company; PDM

 

  

Innovation in Design of a Waste Management Facility –sponsored by the Environmental Services Association

Winner: Lakeside Energy from Waste Education Centre and Plant

The energy-from-waste facility in Colnbrook, near Slough, is a joint venture between Grundon Waste Management and Viridor to help provide an alternative to landfill. The building is designed to help shape the landscape of the area.

Runners-up: Closed Loop Recycling; SIMS Recycling Solutions
 

  

Collection Crew of the Year – sponsored by Suez-Sita

Winner: Rushcliffe borough council: Scott Jackson, Shaun Jackson and Ed Medhurst

The Rushcliffe borough council crew was commended for reducing missed bin collections and also their help developing the use of in-cab communication technology. 

Runners-up: London borough of Merton refuse round two: David Gumble, Gary Gumble, Clive Hookins and Terence Day; Phase six bin crew, Belfast city council: Edward Whyte, Paul Porter and Thomas McCaffrey

  

  

The Best Community Recycling Initiative – sponsored by Yell

Winner: Green Streets and Leave Leeds Tidy

Green Streets is a student-led volunteering project at Leeds University Union which aims to cut the waste sent to landfill during the student change-over period between terms.

Runners-up: Action for Stannington and Veolia Environmental Services; Bag It Up and Southampton city council

  

Civic Amenity Site of the Year – sponsored by Repic

Winner: Smallmead waste management park, Re3 Partnership

The Smallmead household waste and recycling centre opened in Reading in January 2008 and is part of the re3 Partnership (Bracknell Forest, Reading and Wokingham councils) plans to make it easier for residents to recycle waste.

Runners-up: Hunters Lane household waste and recycling centre, Warwickshire county council; Thorp Arch household waste sorting site, Leeds

  

  

The Best Local Authority Recycling Initiative – sponsored by AbitibiBowater Recycling Europe

Winner: London borough of Islington

Islington set out an objective in its recycling and waste minimisation plan in 2008/09 to provide a year-on-year reduction in household waste and develped a work programme to achieve this. There has since been a drop in waste arisings of 9% on 2007/08 levels.

Runners-up: Canterbury city council; Manchester city council

    

  

Local Authority Recycling Champion – Sponsored by UPM Kymmene

Winner: Councillor Janine Rodger, Rutland county council

Councillor Janine Rodger played a central role in the development and delivery of Rutland county council's new waste and recycling service.

Runners-up: David Bailey, recycling and waste minimisation officer, Leeds city council; Yvonne Crace, waste education officer, London borough of Brent