17 March 2015
ACE UK announces winners of Golden Carton Awards
The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) UK today reveals the winners of the Golden Carton Awards 2014, which recognise and reward local authorities achieving the greatest improvements in beverage carton recycling.
The awards celebrate environmental leadership and recycling best-practice, and are open to all local authorities signed-up to send beverage cartons to ACE UK's dedicated UK carton recycling facility.
East Cambridgeshire District Council has won the award for 'Greatest Percentage Increase in Beverage Carton Recycling'. Since changing to a commingled kerbside collection in 2013 the Council has achieved an eleven fold increase in the amount of cartons collected - a rise of over 1000 per cent.
Commenting on the entry the judges said: "The increases in beverage carton volumes achieved by East Cambridgeshire District Council, following the switch to kerbside collection, are really impressive and demonstrate just how effective kerbside collections can be in improving recycling rates. Kerbside collection makes it easier for residents to recycle their waste and studies have shown that the more materials you add to kerbside collections, the more significant the increase in recycling overall."
Councillor Kevin Ellis, Waste and Recycling at East Cambridgeshire District Council said: "The introduction of the wheelie bin recycling service in 2013 has transformed the recycling performance in our district. We are all very proud of the improvements and this award is a great recognition of the progress which is being made.
"Increasing the amount of waste we recycle has significant benefits for us all - it reduces disposal costs, the production of harmful greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately reduces the amount of rubbish which ends up going to landfill."
Best Communications Campaign was awarded to Down District Council. The council developed a wide range of activities to promote carton recycling, from a mobile education bus engaging directly with residents to themed recycling events, giveaways and incentives for local residents. They also ran an excellent schools educational programme and proactively engaged on social media and with local media outlets to promote the recycling message.
Commenting on the entry the Judges said: "The campaign showed great creativity in finding ways to reach the widest possible audience and this is reflected in fantastic engagement with the local residents and a tenfold increase in beverage carton recycling in Down over the last year. This is a great achievement at a time when local authority budgets are being squeezed from all sides."
Down District Council Chairman, Cllr William Walker said: "Our residents have always responded positively to our recycling programmes but with tough targets to meet it is important that we get as many people as possible actively engaged in recycling. We put a lot of thought and effort into our communications programme and it is great to see it pay off in our recycling rates and to be recognised nationally for our efforts."
Fay Dashper, Senior Recycling Manager at ACE UK said: "We were delighted to receive such a high standard of entries to the awards. It demonstrates the excellent work that local authorities are doing to promote recycling.
"We are committed to increasing carton recycling in the UK and following the opening of our dedicated UK beverage carton recycling plant in 2013, we hope to encourage many more councils to add cartons to their kerbside collection services."
Beverage carton recycling has come a long way in the last eight years. The positive working relationship between ACE UK, local authorities and waste management companies has helped create a 15-fold increase in the percentage of local authorities collecting cartons at kerbside - from 4% of local authorities in 2006 to 61% in 2015. When ACE UK's own bring-bank system is included, 91% of local authorities now collect cartons for recycling.
For more information visit the ACE UK website at www.ace-uk.co.uk
