East Ayrshire council’s Douglas Gardiner, was crowned recycling champion at the LARAC Celebration Awards 2017 in Nottingham this week.
Douglas received one of six awards presented at the ceremony, which was hosted by Canadian stand-up comedian Sean Collins, and introduced by LARAC’s chief executive officer, Lee Marshall.
The annual event, which is now in its ninth year and held during the LARAC local authority recycling officers’ committee’s annual conference, “recognises the achievements and hard work of local authority recycling officers and their colleagues over the past 12 months”.
Winners
West Sussex Waste Partnership clinched Best Communications Campaign of the Year for its homes of multiple occupancy recycling improvement project, and the recycling team from Oxford city council was named Best Team of the Year.
Cheshire West and Chester council collected the award for Best Waste Minimisation or Prevention Project for their ‘Want Not, Waste Not’ recycling collections. The service collected unwanted good quality materials from University students which went to local charities.
Other winners included Bolton council for its guide bins for the blind, which was awarded Best New Idea; and, the Best Partnership Award went to North Hertfordshire district council and North Hertfordshire Homes, which worked together on a project for improving flats’ recycling.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, LARAC’s Lee Marshall said: “Congratulations to all this evenings winners and finalists – these are some really good examples of the amazing work going on in our industry. I hope you will make time to find out more about all of our finalists and learn from their experience.”
Andrew Bird
The ceremony also featured a presentation in recognition of LARAC’s chair, Andrew Bird. Andrew, who is a vintage car enthusiast – was presented with a framed picture of a vintage Mazda, similar to his own, and sporting the number plate AB14 18 in recognition of his 4 years as Chair.
The award marked Mr Bird’s hard-work and dedication to the sector during his four years serving as chair for the local authority committee. This will be his last LARAC Conference as chair as he is due to step down from the position in the New Year.
The awards dinner followed a drinks reception hosted by Wastepack and Electrolink. The event took place at Nottingham’s East Midlands Conference Centre on 11 October 2017.
