Recycling Awards

Published:Wednesday 28 October 2009

Rutland County Council has scooped a prestigious award for recycling and was a finalist in another thanks to the commitment and dedication shown by the residents of Rutland. Councillor Janine Rodger has been recognised as the 'Local Authority Recycling Champion of The Year' as part of the Lets Recycle- Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management 2009. Cllr Rodger was recognised for her work in developing Rutland County Council’s recycling and waste management service and her central role in increasing the council’s recycling rates from 29% in 2007/08 to an estimated 53% this year. 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. Councillor Janine Rodger, who is responsible for waste and recycling, said: “I am delighted to win this award, and I would like to thank our residents for helping us to make the kerbside collection scheme so successful, and for the superb efforts of our partner, Cory Environmental, in making it all work on the kerbside scheme and at the CA sites. We really are making a difference to our recycling rate; please keep up the good work.” She added: “Both of these awards really should be dedicated to our residents who have worked with us to put the system in place and make it run so well. By using the new kerbside recycling scheme, as well as visiting the CA sites to recycle residents really have helped us to make a difference to our recycling in the County. We can now proudly say that we are a greener County and the fact we have won this award just shows how significant the change has been.” Steve Eminton chair of letsrecycle.com said: "This year we have a broad range of winners and finalists with excellent examples to learn from and for inspiration. We had an overwhelming number of entries this year and my thanks go to everyone who entered as well as the judges, led by Barbara Herridge and the sponsors.” This week, the Council was a finalist in the 2009 National Recycling Award for ‘Local Authority Target Success’ that highlights the Councils which have made the most significant difference to their recycling rates over the last year. The award ceremony was held in a glittering ceremony in the Hilton Hotel in London. Rutland County Council was shortlisted for the 2009 National Recycling Award in recognition of the kerbside recycling scheme, which was introduced in April 2008 and provided residents with three separate wheeled bins for rubbish, recycling and garden waste. Since the scheme came into place the rate of recycling for the County has increased from 29% to an astounding estimated 53%. Although the Council did not win – that went to Rochford in Essex – it is a significant achievement to be amongst only 5 finalists for this award out of hundreds of local authorities who could have qualified. Official recycling statistics for the Council are expected to be released during November. For more information regarding recycling please visit www.recycle4rutland.org.uk
Author: Rutland County Council enquiries@rutland.gov.uk 01572 722 577		Display start: Wednesday 28 October 2009