MID Devon District Council has won a Golden Carton Award for its work to increase beverage carton recycling in the district.

The awards, designed to celebrate environmental leadership and recycling best practice, recognise local authorities achieving the greatest improvements in beverage carton recycling.

The council entered and won the category for ‘greatest percentage increase in beverage carton recycling.’ The authority has been collecting beverage cartons for recycling since 2004 via its black box kerbside sort scheme and has continued to improve collection rates through projects to educate and encourage residents to recycle more.

The judges said: “The effort that Mid Devon District Council has put into beverage carton recycling is really impressive and shows what can be done when residents have clear, easy to understand information and are motivated to engage in recycling.”

Council recycling officer Felicity Jones said: “We are delighted to receive this award, recognising the effort we have put in to increase carton recycling. Our residents responded very positively when we added beverage cartons to our kerbside collections way back in 2004 and we are working hard to make sure we continue to build on that success.”

Cllr Clive Eginton said: “We are proud of the improvements we have made on recycling but with tough targets to meet we will continue to actively engage with our residents.

“Increasing the amount of waste we recycle from this area reduces disposal costs and harmful greenhouse gas emissions, making our service more environmentally friendly and providing better value for money for local residents.”

Fay Dashper, senior recycling manager at the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) UK, which runs the awards, added: “Entries for the awards were of a very high standard this year and demonstrate just how much excellent work is going into recycling within local authorities.”